


Beloved

by i_write_shakespeare_not_disney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fanfic, Happy Family, Laith, M/M, Male Pregnancy, Mpreg, Space family, Voltron, Voltron Family, but it literally has nothing to do with the story, i am weak, i needed to get over writers block, idk what half of this is, indirect mention of abortion, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, lance mcclain - Freeform, not really a big part but it was suggested i tag that, occasional smut, oh fucking well, parenting, vld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-01-03 21:35:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12155262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney/pseuds/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney
Summary: Keith and Lance receive a shock they never thought they'd get. Being half-Galra comes with all sorts of surprises.Though they're not necessarily bad.





	1. Chapter 1

The smell of food filled the air, and Keith was absolutely ravenous. He sat down and ppiled food onto his plate, ignoring Lance’s amused expression. “What? It’s a celebration, right?” Lance pretended to zip his lips and followed behind him with his own plate of food.

The party went on around them. The Arusian king was dancing with a very confused Allura. Pidge and Hunk were chowing down on snacks and going on about some of the protection tech the put up. Shiro was with Coran and the lions were set up around the area, providing the comfort of protection. Lance sat beside Keith, fixing him with that dorky doe-eyed look.

“What?” Keith asked, suppressing a smile.

“Just really like looking at you,” he answered, leaning into him. Keith felt butterflies burst in his stomach, but there were too many people around for him to kiss Lance. “It’s surreal that you like me back.”

“Lance, it’s been months,” Keith laughed, poking his side. Lance chuckled and moved away.

“I know…. But ever since we…. You know. It’s just. Wow.” Keith felt himself blush further and he intertwined their fingers. They had gone the next step after 7 months of dating and learning each other’s nuances, and ever since it felt like they were both on cloud nine. The giggling, blushing honeymoon phase had resurfaced, something Pidge enjoyed teasing them about. “I really like being with you, Keith.”

“I like being with you too,” he murmured. “Now eat. Try this it tastes like chicken.” He pressed a piece of food to Lance’s lips and chuckled when Lance’s teeth lightly grazed his fingers. He hummed appreciatively and Keith continued to eat.

As he ate, he felt a sudden wave of dizziness, and his stomach churned. The food which had been so appetizing a few seconds ago suddenly smelled too strong, too greasy. Keith stood and scrambled away from alien eyes, finding some place dark before he leaned over and hurled.

“Keith?” he heard. Keith continued to throw up, everything he’d eaten coming back up in a disgusting swirl. “ _Corazon,_ what happened?”

Keith wiped his mouth and coughed. “I’m fine,” he groaned. “I think I ate too fast.”

“Are you okay to go back, or you want me to take you to the castle?” Keith shook his head and spit at the ground one more time. “Maybe you should rest. I’ll tell Allura-”

“No, I’m fine now. It’s okay. Come on let’s get back.” Lance frowned but didn’t argue, knowing how stubborn Keith was. For the rest of the party, Lance hovered around Keith enough to make sure he was okay, but far enough so Keith wouldn’t get annoyed.

No matter how much Keith assured him he’d just eaten too quickly, Lance refused to leave his side even when they were back in the castle. Keith wasn’t complaining, though. He loved sleeping beside him.

The next morning, Lance woke Keith up so he’d have a chance to eat breakfast. Keith was half asleep as Lance dragged him to the table and sat him down.

“Everything okay?” Shiro asked in confusion.

“Yeah. Keith got sick yesterday, and I’m trying to make sure he eats something,” Lance said, placing a bowl of food in front of him.

“You’re babying me. I’m fine, I told you,” Keith muttered. He ate slowly, and Lance took his hand under the table.

Halfway through his food, Keith felt that familiar lurch again. In a flash, he was up from the table and racing to the bathrooms. He hated throwing up. He hated how shaky and out of breath it made him feel.

When he was finally done, he leaned against the wall and took a breath, trying to ignore the disgusting aftertaste in his mouth. He heard footsteps and saw Lance lean down beside him, pushing his hair out of his face.

“I think you should go into the cryopod. Just to be sure you’re really okay.”

Keith shook his head and leaned into Lance’s hand. “It’s probably just a stomach bug.”

Lance took his chin and fixed him with a nervous, uncertain look. “Please? Just to ease my worry.” Keith groaned and nodded, too exhausted to protest. His stomach felt weak and sore after repetitive vomiting. “Can you stand?” Keith nodded again and, with Lance’s help, stood up.

He walked, leaning on Lance, suddenly wanting his bed.

When they got back to the table, the others were looking at them worriedly. “Can you get him into a cryopod? He got sick last night too.”

“Of course,” Allura said. She walked out, waving them along. “Is there anything else bothering you?” she asked, setting up the cryopod.

Keith shook his head. “No I just can’t keep food down. I’m sure it’ll go away in a few days, but you know Lance.” She smiled and shook her head, gesturing for him to get in.

He stood there for a few minutes, eyes closed as the pod whirred around him. Another indeterminable amount of time later, he was able to get out, feeling a little better and a little hungry.

Allura was staring at the screen with wide eyes, while Lance was messing with his jacket on the other side. As soon as Keith stepped out, Lance reached his side and checked his forehead. “Allura, can you calm him down and tell him I’m fine?” he said looking over at the princess.

She looked at him and then back at the screen. “Allura?” Lance asked.

“One moment,” she squeaked. She left and came back with Coran, both of them staring and analyzing the images on the screen. “I’m reading it right, aren’t I?” she asked.

“Y-yes. I didn’t know…. Oh dear.”

“What?” Lance asked, evidently getting more concerned.

Allura looked at Coran then over at Keith. “Well… it would seem…. You’re with child.”

Keith stared at her for a few seconds before laughing. “That’s funny. What’s really wrong? A virus?”

She frowned and turned the screen to him. He saw the heat image of himself and then, in a zoomed in image what looked like a round bag around a small bean shaped thing. Keith stared at the image in confusion, his breaths coming quicker. “Your body has morphed to be able to hold a child. I assume this isn’t something all humans can do,” she said softly.

Keith shook his head. “No. No, there’s no way. I’m a guy, I can’t…. Bodies don’t just morph, that thing has to be broken!”

“Perhaps we can run a few tests? I’m not sure if being part Galra has affected you, but even so it could help to do some studies,” Coran suggested.

“I can’t be….” Keith couldn’t even spit the word out. He was a male. He was nineteen. He was a soldier in a galactic war. He’d had sex one time. Keith looked over at Lance who was staring wide-eyed at the monitor. “Lance. Was there anything different about my body that night?” he asked in what he hoped was a calm voice.

Lance gulped and bit his lip. “I mean… yeah, but I didn’t want to freak you out and…. I didn’t think it would….” Keith felt his legs give way and he fell to the floor in a heap, hands yanking at his hair. “Keith!” His body wasn’t his body anymore.

His body was _growing_ another body _inside of it._ Keith couldn’t breathe. He never wanted kids. He never thought he could have kids. And now, after one fucking time, he was….

“Nobody else needs to know about this,” he growled. “This stays between the four of us until we figure out what to do.” He stood, unable to look at any of them. “I’m going to sleep.”

He walked away and went to his room, luckily not running into any of the other paladins. God, how was he supposed to explain any of it? He didn’t understand himself.

Before he could crawl into his bed, his door slid open and Lance was inside. Keith had to reign in his anger. “Keith, look I know this is crazy and you’re freaked out and everything, but….” He looked terrified. “What did you mean when you said we had to figure out what to do?” Keith stared at him silently. “What, like get rid of the baby?”

“It’s not a baby. Not yet.”

Lance’s expression was heartbreaking. “No. No, you can’t do that, Keith.” He scowled and turned away, biting back insults and angry retorts. “Keith, I know this isn’t something anyone expected, but… that’s my baby too, you know?”

Keith turned on him, and shoved him against the wall. “That’s not supposed to be possible! You didn’t tell me that I’d changed when we had sex and maybe if you had we wouldn’t be in this situation. You don’t get to make this decision.”

Lance cupped his face and shut his eyes. “I’m sorry. I really am, but I didn’t think it mattered. I just wanted to make you feel good, I didn’t know it meant you could get pregnant.” Keith grimaced at the word. “But think about it, Keith. Just a little, for me. Don’t just get rid of it because you’re scared or angry. Because I’m here. I’m in this with you, and everyone else would be too. Just think about it, okay?”

“There’s nothing to think about, Lance. I’m nineteen.”

“My mom had me when she was seventeen.”

“We’re in space! We’re in the middle of a war!”

“Lots of babies are born during war. We’ll keep it safe.” Keith crossed his arms and glared at him. Lance sighed and kissed his forehead. “Sleep it off. I’ll see what I can make you that won’t trigger morning sickness.” Keith remained where he was as Lance left.

He didn’t understand how Lance was handling this so easily. How was this not freaking him out? Of course it wasn’t his body that was going to change. He wasn’t the one throwing up anything he ate, he wasn’t the one who would be dealing with the added weight of a mini parasite in his stomach.

Keith crawled into bed and shut his eyes, trying to sleep. But his mind was racing and his panic was only growing. Then all of a sudden the castle alarms were blaring and Keith was up before he could process it. He yanked on his armor, finding it hard to believe there was anything wrong with him when he looked the same as he had a few weeks ago. He clambered into the black lion and was greeted by the rest of the paladins as they flew out, prepared to defend the castle.

Galran ships were getting close but there weren’t that many. They might not even need to form Voltron. As the paladins prepared, a hit landed on the black lion, jostling Keith.

“Keith!” he heard Lance and Allura cry out. He scowled and ignored it, turning the lion to fire at a rogue ship.

“I’m fine,” he snapped. “Focus!”

“Ships at four o clock!” Pidge alerted.

“Um, guys? What’s that thing behind them?” Hunk asked.

“Another robeast?” Allura questioned. So maybe they would need Voltron.

“Keith, I don’t think this is safe-”

“Lance. Shut up. Let’s form Voltron and take down that robeast. Coran and Shiro can keep the particle barrier up long enough to protect the castle against the ships. Let’s go!” he commanded. Without any more protests, the lions came together to form Voltron and Keith called for the sword and shield.

As they hit the robeast and received a few firing shots from the ships, Keith felt his stomach lurch and he groaned. “Not now,” he hissed. He swallowed the nausea and continued to lead his team. The hits didn’t help, but at least Lance hadn’t tried to talk him into backing down.

When they were finally able to take down the robeast, the Galra ships backed down and Voltron returned to the castle ship. As soon as he was out of his lion, Keith was racing to the bathroom, but there was nothing in him left to throw up. “Damn parasite,” he muttered. He returned to the common room, and although the others were giving him worried glances, they didn’t say anything else.

He was grateful when Coran pulled him aside and took him into the lab to run some tests. As he extracted blood, Coran raised an eyebrow and asked, “Have you thought of keeping it?”

Keith felt a blush spread on his cheeks. “Lance wants me to. But there’s so much wrong about all of this. I never wanted kids.”

“Children are a big responsibility. I never had my own, but Allura has always been like my own daughter.” Keith nodded and winced as the needle was taken out.

“How do I even explain any of this to anyone? If we get back to earth and I find my father, or even Lance’s family? How do I explain to Shiro?”

Coran frowned and pressed a few buttons before looking at Keith. “Is that the only reason you don’t want this child? You’re afraid of what the others would say?”

“Of course not!” he snapped. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “There’s a million other things! My age, the war, the fact that there’s nothing here to take care of a kid, the fact that it’d be in danger all the time, and what if something happens to me or Lance, I don’t know how to-”

He buried his face in his hands, feeling short of breath and panicked. Coran put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. “You’d be a good parent. You’re already so worried. And that’s the thing about being a parent. Worrying never ends, and then you have to learn to let them grow into their own person.” Keith felt tears sting his eyes, but he wasn’t sure why he wanted to cry. “But you should know you would never be in it alone. Now, it’ll take a while before the results come in, so I suggest you find something to eat. Don’t stress too much. You have time to decide.” Keith looked up and nodded, standing and making his way to the kitchen.

He scavenged for something to eat before he found some sort of snack that looked like oatmeal and tasted like beef jerky. He ate them out of the box, taking a walk around the castle to try and clear his mind. Thankfully, it seemed to stay down.

He found himself back in the kitchen, and then he was eating some leftovers Hunk had saved. He had no idea how Hunk managed to make food taste so good with what he had to work with here. But he wasn’t complaining. That seemed to stay down too, so Keith felt a little better by the time he went to take a shower and hopefully a decent nap.

As he was falling asleep, he heard a knock at his door. “Come in,” he called. The door slid open and Lance walked in. He sat beside Keith and smiled timidly at him. “Hey,” he whispered.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Keith shrugged. “Good. I ate, took a shower. No more throwing up.” Lance chuckled and ran his hand through Keith’s hair. Keith hummed and shut his eyes. “That feels nice,” he breathed. He felt warm, tingly. He wanted more of Lance.

“Are you still mad at me?” Keith opened his eyes and looked at Lance. “About not telling you. About… knocking you up. Wanting you to keep it?” Keith sighed and shook his head, pulling him down to lay beside him.

Before Lance could talk again, Keith kissed him, wanting nothing more than to feel him. He wanted to forget everything else and just be with Lance. He was aching for him, and every light touch felt like fireworks on his skin. Suddenly he was over him, grinding his hips down, and Lance’s moans only made his need greater. He sat up, straddling him, and took his shirt off. Lance pulled himself up onto his elbows, and before he could talk, Keith had his lips at his smooth, tanned neck.

“Wait, you want to…? Now?” Keith nodded, fingers reaching for Lance’s shirt to pull it off. “But… we don’t have any protection or-”

“Lance, I’m already knocked up, what’s the worst that can happen?” he muttered, kissing him again, tangling his hands in his hair. “Please,” he whispered. Lance’s grip tightened and he kissed back with fervor, unbuttoning Keith’s jeans, kissing down his chest in adoration.

It wasn’t long before Keith was a moaning, mewling mess beneath him. Somehow every feeling was magnified, making him feel so elated he could hardly stand it. And Lance was giving him everything he had in the sweetest, softest manner, kissing him wherever he could. Keith held onto him with all his might, trying to stifle his sounds until he’d reached his high and his body felt sticky and Lance was still going and my God it felt wonderful. Finally, Lance finished, thrusting into him a few more times, bodies slick with sweat and shaky breaths filling the room.

“Stay with me,” he whispered, running his hands through Lance’s hair. Lance nodded, kissing his neck lazily.

“I’m gonna clean you up, okay?” Keith nodded, barely aware of Lance moving before he slipped into a much needed slumber.

He wasn’t sure what time it was when he opened his eyes. He could hear Lance speaking in a soft voice, barely a whisper. He felt his hand caressing his stomach, but before Keith could snap at him for it, he processed the words.

“We’re all going to protect you and love you. You’re going to have two daddies, and we’re gonna love you so much. You’ll be the luckiest baby in the entire universe, trust me I would know. And if we get to go back home, I’ll take you and Daddy to Veradero beach, and I’ll teach you Spanish so we can talk about Daddy behind his back.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows, and rolled his eyes. “Your papito is gonna love you so much and I’m gonna be there for everything whenever you need me. I wonder if you’re a boy or a girl. Maybe we can choose a unisex name. It doesn’t matter though. We’ll teach you how to ride a bike, and your Aunt Pidge can teach you to mess with tech, and your uncle Hunk can teach you to cook, and Allura and Coran can teach you to speak Altean. I’ll teach you to pilot the lion too. And Daddy can teach you to fight.” Lance’s hand rested over Keith’s stomach. “Can you hear me?”

“I don’t think it has ears yet, Lance.” Lance jerked up and looked at Keith sheepishly. “How are you so okay with this?” he whispered.

Lance shrugged and repositioned himself to be beside Keith. “I don’t know. I’ve always wanted a family of my own. And yeah it’s kind of weird, but… we’ve been piloting giant robot lions and fighting aliens and eating green space goo. I’m kind of used to weird.” He pressed a kiss to Keith’s jaw. “I want you to be okay with it too.”

“That’s not something I can promise,” he sighed.

“Why?” It wasn’t an accusatory question. He seemed legitimately curious.

Keith kept his eyes on the ceiling and furrowed his eyebrows. “It took me a long time to learn how to be a friend. Longer to figure out how to be a boyfriend. What if I’m a horrible dad? What if I ruin the kid and… I don’t know. What if something happens to us and we leave it alone and it grows up like me?” Lance took his hand and kissed it gingerly. “This isn’t normal, Lance.”

“I don’t think anything about our lives is normal anymore, _Corazon._ But I have no doubt that you’d be a great dad. And if anything happens to us, I have family. The other paladins. I know that none of them would let anything happen to our baby.” Something about the way he said that broke Keith.

The tears he’d been fighting all day spilled over and Lance wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly. _Our baby._

***

It’d been about three months since Keith found out he was pregnant. Apparently some survival trait in Galran blood allows for males to be able to carry children when the population is dwindling. With Voltron getting rid of so many Galra, it must have been triggered in Keith as well.

He’d resorted to wearing hoodies and Lance’s jacket to cover the bump that grew on his stomach. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer, and the fact was making him more and more anxious. It was very disturbing to look down and see his own distended stomach, but Lance loved it. He spent every night in Keith’s room talking to his stomach until they were fast asleep. Coran and Allura had provided vitamins and check-ups to be sure the pregnancy wasn’t affecting Keith’s body in any other abnormal ways.

The morning sickness had stopped after two months, which Keith was grateful for. Still, his armor was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and even he was starting to worry about getting hit and hurting the baby growing inside of him. Lance kept trying to convince him to stay behind, but Keith knew he couldn’t without explaining why. And he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing Shiro’s expression.

Lance was cuddled up beside Keith, rubbing his stomach unconsciously. “You think the baby has ears yet?”

“I’m not sure,” he yawned. “I can ask Coran the next time I’m in the lab.”

Lance hummed and leaned down singing a Spanish lullaby. Keith smiled and shook his head, settling for running his fingers through Lance’s hair. Lance pulled himself up onto his elbows and looked at Keith. “When are you going to tell the others? I don’t want you fighting out there anymore. I could lose you both.” Keith groaned and covered his face with his arms. “Keith.”

“I know. I know, okay? I don’t know when, but I’ll… figure it out.” He took his hand and squeezed it. “Just go to sleep.”

The next morning, Keith was mumbling under his breath, annoyed that his jeans didn’t fit him anymore. Lance sat up in bed and smiled at him, but Keith only scowled. “Why are you mad at me?” he chuckled.

“Because this is your fault!” Keith tossed his jeans aside and sat on the floor. “This sucks.” Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed a pair of sweats that were his and handed them to Keith. “They’re going to be too long.”

“So I’ll roll them up for you. Unless you want to walk around the castle in your boxers.” Keith groaned and snatched the sweats from him, tugging them up. He pulled Lance’s sweater on over his shirt and zipped it halfway. “Here, sit.” Keith did and Lance leaned down to roll up the sweats. He smiled at Keith and then placed his hands on Keith’s stomach. “Your daddy’s a grouch, isn’t he? Hopefully you’ll be more like Papi and smile more.”

“I’m gonna kick you,” Keith muttered. Lance laughed and kissed his stomach before standing up and leaning in to kiss Keith. “At least I just look a little chubby. Alright, come on, I’m starving.” Lance followed him out of the room and to the table where the others were coming in to eat breakfast.

Without realizing it, Keith had scarfed down his food quicker than the others and was already reaching for seconds before the others had gotten halfway through their food.

“Well, someone’s growing,” Allura noted with a smile. Keith looked up from his plate and cleared his throat.

“Yeah, well, I’m done.” He stood up and walked to the kitchen to dump his bowl in the sink before walking back. As he returned he felt a hard, sudden thump in his stomach and he froze. Keith looked down at his stomach and waited before he felt another thump in the same spot. “Oh my God,” he whispered.

“Uh buddy, you okay?” Hunk asked.

“It kicked,” he breathed.

“What?” Lance asked, standing up, moving toward him. “You serious? Where?”

“Wait, _what?”_ Pidge asked.

But Keith was grabbing Lance’s hands putting them on his stomach. “I swear, I felt it,” he insisted.

“Maybe it was just gas? I don’t feel any- oh my God. Oh my God, I felt that.” Keith laughed and winced as the kicking continued. “Hey, baby! Can you hear me? I love you, yes I do! Wow, you’re so strong!”

“It likes your voice,” Keith chuckled, feeling his eyes water. “He’s going nuts just with you talking.” Lance looked up at him and laughed, his blue eyes filled with their own tears. He cupped Keith’s face and kissed him deeply.

Suddenly it was real. It was tangible and physical and _real._ There was an actual baby in him, a baby that was his and Lance’s and it was crazy but it was real and Keith had no idea a person could feel so happy.

Then suddenly he was snapped into the real world. “Um, sorry, _baby?_ What baby?” Pidge snapped. “What is going on?”

Keith gulped and looked at Lance worriedly. “Take the jacket off,” he whispered. Keith furrowed his eyebrows, freezing. Lance gingerly unzipped the jacket and pushed it off his shoulders. “It’s okay.” He looked at the others and cleared his throat. “So, we recently found out that Galra males can carry babies. Like seahorses, you know?”

Realization dawned on the other paladins and their eyes drifted to Keith and his slightly swollen belly.

“You’re pregnant?” Shiro yelped.

“With Lance’s baby?” Pidge added.

“It’s a boy?” Hunk gasped.

“Okay, Pidge, I’m taking that tone of voice as an insult,” Lance answered. “And yes, he is. Although… I don’t know what gender.”

Keith was looking down, fumbling with the jacket to put it back on and zip it up. “I don’t either. I just… it feels like it’s a boy, I don’t know.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It came as a surprise to us too, okay?”

Shiro put a hand to his mouth and sighed. “And… you want this? Both of you?”

Keith shrugged. “I mean, I didn’t at first. I was freaking out. But…. I can’t explain it.” He placed his hands around his stomach, feeling protective and ashamed at once. “Look, if we knew this was possible we would’ve… been safe. But it happened, and that’s that.”

“But… how?” Pidge asked, leaning in and inspecting the slight bulge under his jacket. “In order to hold a child, you need a uterus, protective lining, a place for the baby to come out of. Preferably a very flexible place with good elasticity.” Keith paled and gulped. “I just… how?”

“We’re not really sure, but it’s part of his blood for his body to morph into one suitable for child bearing,” Allura said. “The protective layering is all there according to the scans.”

“And who’s going to be the midwife?” she pointed out. Everyone fell silent, and Keith felt himself beginning to withdraw into himself.

“Let’s take this one thing a time,” Hunk said. “Right now, we need a replacement for the head of Voltron because there’s no way you’re going to keep fighting, Keith.”

“Agreed,” Lance said. “Shiro can take that. He’s piloted the black lion before. Keith can stay behind and work with Coran.”

“Have you been getting vitamins? What about all the things babies need? A crib, bottles, diapers? We need to stop at the space mall,” Pidge mused. She stepped forward and held out her hand. “Can I?” Keith nodded, unzipped the jacket, and Pidge prodded gently at his hard stomach. Suddenly there was a slight kick and Pidge gasped. “Well hello there,” she giggled. “Was I intruding?”

“How far along are you, Keith?” Shiro asked.

Keith looked at him and shrugged. “Almost four months?”

“You hid this for four months?” Hunk cried. “What the heck, man?” Keith groaned, but Hunk was already moving on. “Have you guys thought of names? Oh I am going to be this kid’s favorite uncle.” Keith managed a smile.

Pidge and Hunk seemed completely fine with all of it, Allura and Coran had long since known and understood. Of course, Lance was ecstatic and already making birthday plans with Hunk. Shiro seemed to be the only one still holding reserves. And somehow, that one disapproval made the others’ excitement seem insignificant. He walked over to him and crossed his arms. “I’m sorry. I messed up-”

“You didn’t know,” he sighed.

“You’re still upset. You’re disappointed with me, I know that.”

“I’m _scared_ for you. And Lance,” he corrected. “You’re just kids. And we already have so much happening with Voltron. What happens when you go into labor? What if we’re out on a mission? We have no provisions here for a baby. I just don’t want this to ruin your life.”

Keith felt his throat constrict, and he clenched his teeth. “What like I did for my parents? Being left to fend for myself? I can promise that much, Shiro, I’m not going to be like them. I’m going to be there for this kid, and so is Lance. I can tell just with how he talks to him, how excited he is.”

“He’s excited for the fun things. Teaching the kid to curse in Spanish, to make silly faces at it and make it laugh. What about when the baby gets a fever and doesn’t stop crying all night? Or when it starts teething and hits its terrible twos stage?” Keith scowled and shook his head. Shiro reached forward to place his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Look, I’m just worried-”

“Yeah, okay,” he muttered, pulling away. He returned to the others, trying to let their excitement override the hurt he was feeling. He wished he could still train. It was always a good way to let go of his stress and worries. Now, he was stuck in this half-fragile state left to stew with emotions.

“We should plan a baby shower!” Pidge cried. “We can make it neutral colors, you know, like yellow and green. Or we can make it Voltron colors!”

“With tiny little lion cookies!” Hunk added.

Lance wrapped his arm around Keith and nuzzled into him. “See? Nothing to worry about.” Keith hummed and tried not to look at Shiro.

Three more months went by and Keith’s stomach continued to grow. Lance spent the nights singing or telling the baby stories until he’d talked himself to sleep. And every morning, the second Lance pressed a kiss to Keith’s swollen belly, the kicking would start. And it continued until Keith was able to sit and eat breakfast.

And after dinner, Pidge and Hunk would take turns talking to the belly, insisting that the baby understood. Keith simply fell asleep on the couch while they talked and made up songs. Shiro was still apprehensive, but he’d stopped being so obvious about. He’d even asked to feel the baby’s kicks once. Of course, it took some coaxing from Lance before it moved.

Each time the team had to go on a mission, Keith felt nervous and afraid and it seemed harder and harder to let Lance go each time. It seemed his stress reached the baby too because it would stop moving and wouldn’t kick again until Lance had returned and cooed, “Where’s Papi’s baby? Where is my little sharpshooter?” Keith had to bite back yelps of pain when that happened because the baby seemed so excited at the sound of Lance’s voice that its kicks were stronger than any other time. And they wouldn’t stop until Lance’s hands were on his stomach and he’d kissed his stomach before kissing Keith.

“I fucking hate you,” he groaned once when the team had come back and Lance had finally gotten the kid to calm down. “He always does that when you get back.”

“Don’t say things like that, I don’t want the baby learning your foul language.”

Keith hummed and looked at him accusingly. “Oh and I assume you haven’t been saying any Spanish curse words to my stomach?” Lance scoffed, but his cheeks reddened and he turned his attention back to Keith’s swollen stomach.

“How are your feet?”

“They’re fine. I’m not letting you massage my feet, I told you. I don’t like people touching my feet.” Lance rolled his eyes and kissed his cheek before leaving to change out of his armor. Keith looked at his stomach and hummed as he rubbed it. “I know most people name their sons after their dads, but I don’t think you’d want either of our names. I wonder what name you would like.”

“Keith!” he turned and saw Hunk walking towards him. “I’m experimenting in the kitchen, want to join?” Keith nodded and followed him. “Have you decided what you want to eat for the baby shower?”

“I’ve been craving a pizza, if I’m honest. Besides it’s just us, so it doesn’t have to be too big.”

“Well, this might be the only baby shower we get while we’re here, so…. It’s exciting.” Keith hummed and took a sample that Hunk handed him of some type of batter. “You scared?”

“Yep,” he answered, popping the p. “I’m a guy, dude. And I’m supposed to… give birth?”

“If it helps, we’re all here for you, buddy. Here, try this.” He handed something fried over to Keith and he didn’t even wait for it to cool down before he was scarfing it down. “Eating for two must be fun.” Keith rolled his eyes.

He felt an arm wrap around him before Lance sat beside him and kissed his cheek. “You’re glowing, you know that?”

Keith looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. “What do you want?” Lance stuck his tongue out and nudged him with his nose.

“Actually, Allura and Coran needed you to figure out how… the going into labor is going to go.” Keith shuddered and groaned. “Come on, it’s better to figure it out now. You’re going to be due in like two months, maybe a little less.”

“Please don’t remind me,” he muttered. He stood and walked away, taking one more piece of fried food before going to the lab. “I was told I was needed,” he announced, tugging the jacket over his stomach.

Allura waved him over and showed him the screen she was working on. Keith grimaced and looked away, but eventually found his way back. “Now, I’m not sure who you trust most to help you through this, but this is how we modeled the process for helping you. We have some sedatives and morphine to help with any pain.” Keith grimaced and nodded. “You don’t seem excited.”

“I’m not. This is terrifying.” Allura placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile. “I can barely sleep. He’s heavy.”

“He’s growing quickly,” she agreed. “But I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Have you thought of names?” Keith shook his head. “Why don’t we go to the Space Mall to shop a bit for the baby?” Keith hesitated and tried to figure out a way to keep from going to such a public place. “You’re embarrassed.”

“Um, yeah,” he admitted.

She smiled and shook her head. “I’ll see if Pidge wants to go with me. I think if I bring Lance we’ll bring back the entire mall.”

“You’re not wrong,” he agreed. “Um, and thank you for all of this…. It’s awkward, but I really appreciate it all.” She smiled and nodded. “I think I’m going to take a nap. Thank you, again.” He turned away and started for his room with a yawn.

As he settled into bed, he groaned at the weight and the small kick that he felt. “What? Look, kiddo, you gotta let me sleep. You already make me pee every ten minutes.” Another slight kick. “Alright, what’s that song your dad likes to sing to you. I don’t speak Spanish, so it probably won’t be great, but I’ll try.” Another kick. Keith chuckled and closed his eyes, softly singing what he remembered of that song Lance always sang. The kicking stopped, and before he knew it, Keith was asleep.

The next thing he knew, Lance was shaking him awake. “Babe. Come on, you’re gonna miss dinner. You’ve been asleep for a while.” Keith yawned and sat up, rubbing his stomach. “Hunk made some really good food.”

“I’m coming,” he grumbled. “I’m still waking up. Your kid finally let me sleep.”

Lance smiled and helped him up. “ _Our_ kid. Isn’t that right, baby boy? Or girl. Your dad swears you’re a boy.”

“I’m thinking he’s a Leo. It means lion, so it fits.” Lance raised an eyebrow and hummed.

“I like it.” Keith smiled and followed Lance out of the room.

He sniffed the air when the familiar scent of marinara reached him. He reached the table with Lance and gasped when he saw the food on the table. Pizza and cakes and French fries and fried other things. There were streamers and balloons and boxes of gifts. The Alteans and the paladins were all waiting with large smiles.

“It’s your baby shower!” Pidge shouted. “Come on, sit down!”

“You actually made pizza?” Keith marveled. “Wow.” He sat down and grabbed as much food as would fit onto his plate. His friends sat around him and started eating, talking excitedly. “This is great you guys. I like the Voltron theme.” Pidge and Hunk high-fived.

“Just wait till you open the gifts,” Hunk said.

“How did you guys even find time for all of this?”

“Well, you’re a heavy sleeper,” Allura said with a smile.

Lance stayed beside him, holding one hand as he ate. Eventually, they were able to move on to cake and presents. Keith opened his presents and couldn’t help but laugh at the alien themed baby clothes and toys the paladins had gotten him.

By the end of the night, he was full and happy and even a little excited. As he slipped into his PJs and settled in beside Lance, he smiled and sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. “You know little guy,” he whispered, “You’ve got the most loving family in the universe.” Lance chuckled and threw his arm around Keith’s middle before humming.

“Yeah. He does.”

***

“Be careful,” Keith growled, cupping Lance’s face. He pulled him into a kiss, feeling anxious and wishing he could lock him in his room to keep him safe. Lance’s hands rested on his stomach and he smiled into the kiss.

“It’s getting harder to kiss you every day. I feel like I’m hurting him if I come too close.”

Keith shook his head. “He loves having you close. Just like me. Which is why you need to come back.”

“I will,” he promised. “And then I’ll pamper you until all that stress goes away. You know stress isn’t good for the baby.”

“Guys, we need to go,” Shiro said, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Keith.”

Keith grunted and nodded, taking a deep breath. It would all be fine. He nodded and nudged Lance toward the lions, hoping Red knew to keep him safe. He watched the paladins get into their lions and watched them dart into space.

He returned to the control room where Coran was managing the navigation. “Don’t worry, they’ll be back before you know it. They’ve got the upper hand.”

“I know,” he sighed. “Do you really think a surprise attack will work though?”

“Pidge’s lion has the cloaking device. She’ll be able to hack the alarm system and they’ll get in without a hitch. I’ll make sure of it.” Keith nodded and started pacing, trying to keep his back straight. “Is he heavy?”

“There’s a weight of a separate human hanging off my stomach. Yeah, he’s heavy.” Keith sighed and plopped down on a chair. “I hate when they leave. I can’t help but panic.”

“Why don’t you go to bed?”

Keith groaned. “I don’t know, I feel like I need to be productive. I think I’m going to clean up a bit.” He pulled himself up and left, hoping to busy himself.

He’d rearranged the common room about five times before he felt exhausted and decided to take Coran’s advice and going to bed. He got into bed and rubbed his stomach. He wasn’t moving, but at moments like this, he wished he would. Just to reassure him Lance was okay.

“It’s okay, buddy. Your dad will be home soon.” Keith tried to ignore his worries. If he fell asleep, then maybe Lance would be back in time to wake him up. After eight months of growing a human inside him, Keith felt a little less insecure about his swollen stomach and… well really the whole idea in general.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when he woke up with pain in his stomach. He groaned and held his stomach wondering if something was wrong. Was something wrong with Lance? Could a baby feel that?

The pain ebbed and Keith sighed, leaning his head further into the pillow. He tried to hold back the bile that was rising in his throat and hold on to the hope that everything was fine. Before he could calm down, he felt another cramping pain in his stomach, this time a little stronger. Keith grimaced and curled into himself, breathing heavily.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.  He scrambled out of bed and tried to ignore the pain until it disappeared again as he walked. “Coran?” he called. “Coran I need an update!” He felt sore and tired, but panicked all at once.

Before he made it into the control room, he felt another wave of pain, this time spreading to his back. He gasped and let himself slide slowly to the ground. “Coran!” he shouted, through gritted teeth.

“What in the-?” He saw Coran rush out of the control room, eyes widening at the sight of Keith on the ground. “What happened? Are you alright?”

“What’s happening with Voltron? Something’s wrong, he can feel it.”

“No, no everything’s fine. The team had to fall back, but they’re fine. They’re on the way back.” He leaned down to grab Keith who was trying to enjoy the few minutes of peace he had before another cramping pain debilitated him. “What is it, what are you feeling?”

“Right now? Nothing,” he breathed. “I woke up with pain, I thought something had happened to- oh! Ow!” He gripped Coran’s hand and grit his teeth, screwing his eyes shut.

“Well, my boy, it seems that you’re going into labor,” Coran said.

“What? No, it’s not time yet. Lance isn’t here, Allura’s not- Oh my God, this hurts!”

“Breathe,” Coran instructed. “I’ll alert the others and get you to the lab.” Keith barely managed a nod before he returned to the control room.

Keith held his stomach and grimaced. “Guess you’re like me, huh? Impatient.” He received another burst of pain as a reply. Keith tried to steady his breathing. He’d felt pain before. He lived with it. Through Voltron, through the Blade, through the Galra. He could handle this.

Coran returned and helped him up, patiently taking him to the lab. “It’s alright. They’ll be here as soon as possible.” He laid him down on a table and connected a few wires to him before leaving to check his screens. He returned with a needle and Keith flinched. “This should help with the pain. I need you to sit up.” Keith pulled himself up, ignoring the uncomfortable pain spreading to his legs. “Stay still.” Keith bit back a yelp when he felt a needle dig into his back. “Lay back. It’ll be okay, just breathe.” Keith nodded and leaned back, feeling the pillows Coran must have put.

Keith was too frantic, too afraid to feel embarrassed when Coran had to strip him of his jeans and check him. Keith never knew what the hell was down there, he didn’t want to. He just hoped this would be easier than he expected because he was terrified. He felt a strange sort of prickling spreading around his middle as though his body was falling asleep. But instead of going completely numb, he just felt a slight decrease of pain. Like he was disconnected.

“You are going to have to start pushing now, if you don’t want complications,” Coran urged.

“But Lance isn’t here,” he gasped.

“This baby isn’t waiting,” he answered. “It’ll be alright, I promise. But your water just broke, and that can hurt the baby if we wait too long.”

Keith groaned and nodded, letting his head hit the pillows as he took a deep breath. He sat up and tried to focus on Coran’s guidance to help him stay grounded. He could feel the sweat tricking down his neck, the hair sticking to his face. He could feel his heart pounding all over his body.

“I can see the head. Just get the head and shoulders out and you’re fine.” Keith only grunted in response. “Keep a rhythm, it’s alright. Just breathe.”

“I’m trying!” he growled. Suddenly he heard more footsteps and he was vaguely aware of Allura with her pink armor, and Lance beside him still wearing his. “You did this to me, you jackass,” he scowled barely managing to hit Lance in the chest.

But Lance only smiled and took his hand, kissing it. “It’s okay, you’re doing great, _Corazon._ Keep going.” Keith grumbled and kept pushing, now with Allura’s help as she wiped his forehead and helped him sit up.

“I hate you,” he muttered through gasps, glaring at Lance.

Lance chuckled and pressed his forehead against Keith’s. “I love you.” He kissed him and pushed his hair away. Suddenly, they heard a sharp cry and Keith looked up, panicking.

“It’s okay!” Coran assured. “Head’s out. Keep going, we need the shoulders.” Keith gripped onto Lance hand, squeezing so hard he must have been hurting him. But Lance was smart enough not to complain. “A little more,” Coran prodded. Keith nodded and continued, driven more by the cries of the baby he couldn’t see. “One more final push.”

“Lance,” Allura said, handing him scissors. Keith heard a snip. “It’s a girl, boys.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows and leaned back onto the pillows, too exhausted to stay up. Allura managed to wrap her in a thin cloth and quickly handed her over to Keith. “Congratulations.”

Keith held her, afraid to hurt her. She was so small. “She has ears,” he noted with a strike of fear. As he looked at the baby, he couldn’t help but notice the angled, pointed ears covered in tufts of wet, purple fur. Galra ears.

“She must have inherited more Galra traits since it was your Galra side that helped her develop,” Allura suggested. “But it’s the only Galra trait she has.”

“She’s so pretty,” Lance cooed. “Hi, princess. Do you know who I am?” The baby squirmed and placed her tiny wrinkled hand against her cheek. “I’m your daddy. Well, one of them.”

“What should we name her?” Keith asked. “I was so sure it was a boy. I never thought of girl names.”

Lance reached out and touched her tiny ears. “What about Violet?”

“Violet,” Keith repeated. She cooed and stretched her hand. “I love you so much, Violet.”

Allura smiled and stepped forward. “Do you mind if I clean Violet up for you? I’ll bring her right back.” Keith nodded and Allura took the baby gently. She didn’t go far, but Keith still couldn’t look away.

Beside him, Lance was kissing his forehead and his cheek. “You did so good, baby.” Keith smiled and leaned against him. Coran helped him lay down after cleaning up and draped him in blankets. “Here she comes.”

Keith looked over and took Violet in his arms. “Oh, look at her,” Keith mused. “She has your hair, Lance.”

“Thank God for that,” he joked. Keith glared at him, but Lance just smiled. “She’s so small. Here, she might be hungry,” Lance whispered, handing Keith a bottle with a mix that Pidge and Hunk had managed to create to give the vitamins milk on Earth gave babies. Keith hesitantly place the bottle to her lips and chuckled when her tiny mouth searched for the source. Her eyes opened briefly and Lance gasped. “She has your eyes.”

Keith held her and marveled at her as she fed. Her delicate, rosy skin, her dark, curled lashes, the curly locks of brown hair in tufts on her head. She was so fragile. So small. And it was up to him to protect her. Keith felt new wave of strength overcome him. This tiny thing, this tiny human had actually been in him. She had kicked him and made him sick and made him sleepy and now she was here. He was holding her.

After she had been fed, Lance offered to burp her. “You look like you need a nap. Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. When you wake up, everyone else can meet her.” Keith nodded and shut his eyes, slowly succumbing to sleep.

He woke up when his hunger was too much to ignore. Lance was sitting in a chair beside him, singing to Violet as he rocked her back and forth in his arms. “Lance?”

He looked up and smiled, standing carefully. “Look who’s awake, Violet. It’s Daddy. Want to hold her?” Keith nodded and Lance passed her over. “God, I never get tired of looking at her.” Keith smiled and kissed her forehead gently. Her hand wrapped around one of his fingers and Keith wondered how this level of love was possible. Suddenly his stomach growled and Lance chuckled. “Hungry?” He nodded. “I’ll be right back. I’ll bring everyone else too, okay?”

Keith nodded and watched Lance leave. He returned his gaze to Violet who was fast asleep. Her nails were smaller than grains of rice. Her face so round and chubby. Her ears were so adorably furry. Suddenly the door opened and the rest of the paladins came in. Everyone gathered around Keith, anxious to see the new addition to their space family.

“Oh my God,” Pidge cooed. “She’s adorable!”

“I can’t believe you two made that,” Hunk whispered. “She’s so small. I could fit her in one hand.”

Keith chuckled. “Can we hold her?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded a bit hesitantly and handed her to him. “What’s her name?”

“Violet,” Lance answered. “Here. Eat up.” He set a bowl of soup in front of Keith and sat beside him. “Coran said you could be up by tomorrow. He said you’re healing quickly.”

“Thank God,” he sighed, eating his soup. The others were still fussing over Violet and Keith leaned into Lance. “I feel weird with a small stomach again.” Lance chuckled and kissed him. “I love you,” he breathed.

***

It had been one week since Violet was born. Keith was better, and was already returning to the training room for an hour a day. Everyone loved Violet and she was hardly ever put down for longer than five minutes. She spent most of the time sleeping, but when she was awake, her eyes were wide and purple and bright.

Lance and Keith were in the lab while Violet got a checkup. Coran was singing an old Altean song to her while he checked her. Lance nudged Keith and gestured. “Tell him.”

Keith smirked and stepped forward. “So how is she?”

“She’s perfectly healthy,” he answered. “I gave her medicine so she won’t get sick anytime soon. She’s strong too.”

“That’s good,” he nodded. “Well, Coran, Lance and I were wondering if… you’d like to be her godfather?”

“What’s that?” Coran asked.

Lance jumped in, barely containing his excitement. “It’s like a second parent. If anything were to happen to us, you’d be the one that takes her in. Someone who’ll help raise her.”

“It’s just, Lance has gotten so close with you, and you’re the only parental figure any of us have here. And you did help me deliver her.” Keith looked at Coran who seemed frozen and in shock.

“Coran?” Lance questioned nervously. A sudden sob escaped Coran and he smiled at them, his moustache trembling with his lip. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I am!” he cried. “I just… I had no idea…. I would be honored.” They smiled and Coran lifted Violet from her bin and hugged her as tightly as he could without hurting her. “Thank you boys,” he whispered.

There was no doubt in Keith’s mind that his daughter truly was the most loved baby in the entire universe.


	2. Chapter 2

Taking care of a baby was hard work. Keith was tempted to say it was even harder than being in war. For the first few weeks, Keith and Lance had been terrified to hurt Violet when changing her diaper, her clothes, when bathing her, burping her. Lance had a little more experience from having taken care of his siblings, but it had been a long time since he took care of a baby, so he was still hesitant.

After a few months, Keith got used to it and managed to be a little more confident in taking care of his daughter. Lance’s favorite thing was putting her to sleep and watching her breathe and smile from whatever she was dreaming. Keith’s favorite thing was feeding her because she would place her hand on Keith’s and make the cutest little sounds as she drank her bottle.

Pidge and Hunk were able to create a few soft toys for her to grip and fascinate herself with. Coran had managed to sew blankets together to make a quilt for Violet so she could lay on the floor and work on lifting her head. Allura liked getting the mice to perform for her, watching her purple eyes flit and follow the colorful critters.

When Violet was almost six months old, and able to sit up on her own with a slight support on her back, Keith began switching out with Shiro on missions. The first time he left Violet was the hardest, but he was more determined than ever to get back. When Violet was ten months, she began lifting herself up and standing while holding something for balance. With Hunk’s help, she was given a healthy diet of foods to nibble on. With Pidge’s, she was learning to differentiate colors even if she couldn’t say them.

When Violet turned a year old, a small party was thrown before an attack caused them to leave Violet in a special bunker made to keep her safe while Shiro and Coran stayed behind in the control room with one eye on the monitor in the bunker. That battle resulted in Lance getting injured so badly, he spent the night in the cryopod. When he got out the next day, Keith took him to rest in bed. Before he fell asleep, he asked Keith to marry him. Keith said yes.

Then Violet began walking. And she began talking. Suddenly she was three. Then five.

Now she was six. The team was coming back from another battle and Violet was rushing out of her bunker to hold on to her parents for the next hour. When the team came back, Violet barely managed a greeting to her aunts and uncle. She just needed her fathers.

She ran until she managed to leap onto Keith, wrapping her arms around his neck. She looked up in search of Lance who was already coming up behind them. She reached out and burrowed her face between them. “I’m so happy you’re safe,” she whispered with a trembling voice.

Keith held on to her and sighed, running his hands through her unruly curls. “We’re okay. We’re okay, buttercup.”

“Come here, _princesa,”_ Lance murmured, pulling her into his arms.

He peppered her cheeks with kisses and she squirmed, smiling for the first time since the alarms went off. “ _Papi_ , your beard itches!” she giggled. Keith smirked and took Lance’s hand as they left to change out of their armor. “Why do you always have to go fight?” she asked, playing with a doll they’d gotten from the Space Mall.

“Well that’s what happens in a war,” Lance said, pulling her into his lap. “You have to fight a lot for a long time.”

“But why does it have to be you and Daddy and Aunt Pidge and Aunt Lura and Uncle Hunk and-”

“Well,” Keith interrupted with a chuckle, “We’re the ones the lions chose. We’ve told you the story of finding the lions and meeting your nino and Allura. We told you about finding the lions.”

“I know,” she sighed. “But I get scared.”

Lance kissed her forehead and scratched behind one of her ears, causing it to flick. “I know, _mi nina._ We get scared too.” Keith gave him a warning look that Lance pretended he didn’t see. “Go see if Nino wants to draw with you while we get out of the gear, okay? Then we can make some cookies.”

She nodded and bounded off the bed before leaving the room. When the door shut, Keith looked at Lance. “We get scared too? Lance, we’re her parents.”

“Yes, so we should be honest with her,” he answered, crossing his arms as Keith removed his armor and changed into more comfortable clothes.

“Not about that!” Keith ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Look, she’s young, to her we’re invincible-”

“And what happens the day one of us can’t come back? I’d rather she know we’re not invincible and teach her to be smart and to cherish every moment she has with us than let her think nothing will ever happen to us and never be able to explain why one day we might not come back.” Keith grit his teeth and stared at him. Lance took a moment to change before facing Keith. “I know you want her to have this picture-perfect family you didn’t have, and you want her to stay innocent, but we’re at war, Keith.”

Keith covered his face with his hands and plopped onto the bed. Lance wrapped his arms around him and held him close. “I didn’t want this for her, Lance. I thought we’d be home by now.”

“I know, baby,” he whispered. “But we have to help her understand these things. It’s what would be best for her.” He sighed and leaned into him. “Come on. We have cookies to make with our daughter.” He tilted Keith’s face toward him and kissed him.

They left the room and found Violet sprawled on the floor doodling next to Coran. As Keith and Lance got closer, she scrambled to hide her drawings and shoved them into Coran’s hands. “Hide them, hide them!” she whispered. Coran chuckled and held her drawings near. “ _Papi,_ Daddy, can we make cookies now?”

After a few failed attempts to make cookies, Hunk ended up taking over while Violet tried to get Pidge to play with her.

“I’m sorry, munchkin, I would but my leg is hurt. See?” Violet peeked over and looked at the ice pack Pidge had taped around her leg since they got back. Violet sighed and nodded, walking away with dramatic slowness.

Keith smiled and followed her until she turned and looked at him with a somber expression. “Hey, buttercup. What do you say I take you into the training room?” Her eyes lit up. Keith hadn’t taken her to the training room before. He was always worried she’d hurt herself. He thought she was too small to start handling weapons, but he hated how sad she looked with nothing to do.

“Really?” He nodded and took her hand, leading her to the training room. “Are you gonna teach me to use your knife?”

Keith laughed and ruffled her hair. “Not yet. That’s a little too dangerous.” She deflated and Keith turned her so he could put her hair up in a quick bun. “But I can teach you to fight, if you want.”

“Then I can go with you to fight! And I can help!” Keith felt his heart drop, but he tried not to let his face show the amount of fear and pain those sentences gave him. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and gestured to the mat.

“Okay, first you need to stretch. That way you don’t get hurt.” They went through a few stretches and exercises before Keith handed her a long wooden stick. He grabbed his own and stood beside her, showing her defensive moves, blocking methods, and attacks. She jumped excitedly each time after she managed to mimic her father’s movements.

“Okay, okay, I wanna fight now. Come on, Daddy let’s fight!” She pulled his arm and turned to him, holding her staff like he’d taught her. Keith smiled and began offering feeble attacks that Violet blocked and fought against with fervor. Keith smiled as he watched her fight and work so hard. His heart swelled with pride and he chuckled as he stepped back.

Violet was breathing heavily and Keith offered her a high-five. “That was really good, buttercup. You’re a fast learner. Let’s go find Papa and show him what you learned.” He leaned down to carry her and kissed her cheek.

“Daddy, if we’re both Galra, how come you don’t have ears like me?”

Keith bit his lip and pondered how to answer. When Violet was four, she’d asked why her ears were different from her fathers’. It helped to have Allura and Coran there to show her that others had different ears too. She didn’t know that it was the Galra they had been fighting for the last several years. The team had begun referring to the Galra as “the enemy” or “the empire.” Keith had only told her they both shared alien blood.

Now, he had to figure out how to explain why he didn’t look more like her when they both had alien blood without explaining how he was able to hold her in his own body. He sighed and looked at her. “Well, a lot of people look different from their parents. My mom was Galra but I look more like my dad. I only have different eyes. It’s all science stuff. You got the ears and my eyes. But you look a lot like Papa.” He touched her nose and she smiled, leaning into him.

“Will I ever meet my grandmas and grandpas? And the aunts and uncles Papi tells me about?”

Keith sighed and thought about what Lance said when it came to be honest. “I don’t really know, kiddo. I hope so though.” She hummed, but didn’t ask anything else.

“ _Mis tesoros!”_ Lance cooed when he saw them coming back.

“Papito! Guess what? Daddy taught me to fight!” She squirmed away from Keith and toward Lance, excitedly explaining what she’d been taught.

Later in the day, Violet was pacing around the room restlessly. The constant patter of steps eventually made Lance burst. “Violet, please stop walking around and sit down,” he sighed.

“But I’m _bored!”_ she whined.

“Then find something to do,” he said. “Draw, or write, or learn something-”

“ _I don’t wanna!”_

“Do _not_ yell at me,” Lance warned in a low voice, crossing his arms. Keith sighed and rubbed his head. Suddenly he heard sniffles and cries.

He looked up and saw Violet crying, her face red and wet. “What did you do to her?” Keith snapped, walking over to her.

“I didn’t do anything,” Lance muttered. “Violet, stop crying. No one’s yelling or hurting you.” She mumbled something unintelligible and Lance sighed and leaned down. “What? I can’t understand you when you’re crying like that. Look at me. Violet Esperanza, I said look at me.” Violet’s bright purple eyes flitted to him. “Now I need you to take two deep breaths.” She did. “Now speak clearly.”

Her face contorted again and more tears fell. She looked down and mumbled, “I said s’not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” Keith asked gently.

“That I’m the only kid,” she said with a quiver in her voice. “I don’t have no one to play with and I’m always by myself because everyone’s big or busy. It’s not fair! I want a little sister to play with!” As she spoke, her voice rose and she began crying again, hiding her face.

Lance stood up and stared at Keith, dumbfounded. Keith looked pale. He glanced at Lance and they both seemed at a loss.

Suddenly Allura came in with Coran behind her. “Why is Violet crying?” she asked.

“Um… well… apparently she wants a sibling,” Lance choked.

“Ah, so she told you,” Coran chuckled.

“What?” Coran dug into his pocket and held out some folded papers. Keith took them and unfolded them. He saw bubble figures of two girls covering each page. Playing games, playing tag, standing with Keith and Lance. The word: “sistr” was written over the smaller girl with the second s backwards. “Oh God,” Keith breathed.

“Vi, since when have you been feeling like this?” Lance asked, his voice softer than before. She shrugged and sniffled. “Aw, _princesa,_ I know it can get lonely. But it’s hard enough to keep you safe right now.”

She nodded and looked down. She wiped her nose and walked away, leaving her parents to process what they’d learned. “She wants a sister?”

“Well, it makes sense. She’s the only child, she gets bored,” Allura pointed out.

“It makes sense, but it’s not… it’s not an option right now. For one, the pain was unreal. Having Lance leave all the time made me anxious beyond belief. And having to leave behind two kids? To protect two children from all of this?” Keith shook his head and rubbed his face. “This is just….”

“Really fucked up?” Lance suggested. Keith nodded. “Could we get a moment?” Lance asked the Alteans. They nodded and left. Lance walked over to Keith and ran his hand through Keith’s hair. “Can I ask you something?” Keith hummed. “If there was no war…. Would you want another kid?”

Keith looked up and sighed. “I mean…. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I love Violet so much, and I know now that I can do this. That _we_ can do this. And we’re married now. I want Violet to be happy more than anything, I’d love to raise her in a family of siblings like you were. But there is a war. And we’re on the frontlines. Every single time we leave, she holds back tears. Each time we come back, I can feel her shaking in my arms. I don’t want to bring another child into this.”

Lance nodded and wrapped his arms around Keith. “I know. Violet happened… out of nowhere. And I know that each time something happens, you feel guilty for bringing her into this kind of life. I can see it in your eyes.”

“I don’t regret having her,” he insisted.

“I didn’t say that,” Lance said gently. “I’m just saying… Violet was a surprise. A new baby… well we’d be prepared. We would plan.” Keith raised an eyebrow. “I just… I don’t know if it’s healthy for her to grow up so isolated. She has no one to interact with besides a handful of adults.”

“A baby shouldn’t be a solution, Lance. It should be… something we just want. Not a suggestion from a six year old or a way to socialize her.” Keith sighed and shook his head. “I just wish this war was over.”

Lance interlaced their fingers. “I know. You’re right. But we need to do something about Violet.” Keith scoffed and looked at the ceiling. What the hell had happened to their lives?

***

In the span of a few weeks, Violet had slowly become slightly withdrawn, quieter. Keith could see it in her eyes; she was upset. She was lonely.

One night when Lance was braiding her hair before they tucked her into bed, Keith sat in front of her and took her hands. “I know you’re sad, buttercup. And I wish I could change that. We’re in a war, and it wouldn’t be safe to have another baby right now.”

“I know, Daddy,” she sighed.

“You know, you’re still lucky. Even without a sibling.” She frowned and looked up at him. Lance’s hands hesitated as his eyes drifted over to Keith. “When I was little, my mom went away. She left me with just my dad. And then I lost him too. I was all alone for a long time. I didn’t have anyone to talk to or play with. I became angry and it became hard for me to talk with people.” Lance snorted, but Keith ignored it. “And then, I went to a school for pilots and I met Uncle Shiro. He became like my big brother. And then he got lost.”

Violet gasped. “Twice,” Lance added. Violet looked between them wide eyed. Keith nodded, confirming it. “Did you know Daddy and I didn’t like each other when we first met?” Violet frowned and tilted her head. “We were always fighting, getting mad at each other, making fun of each other.”

“But it was just because I was so used to being alone,” Keith said. “I was scared that everyone was going to leave me if I let anyone close. I didn’t really know how to love someone or what it was like to be loved.” He tugged lightly on Violet’s hair. “But you have two daddies that love you very much.”

“And aunts and uncles that love playing with you. You know, when you still weren’t born yet, Uncle Hunk said he was going to be your favorite uncle.”

Violet giggled. “And you have a Nino who would do anything to keep you safe.” Keith pinched her cheek playfully and smiled at her. “So… even though we can’t have a big family like Papa, you’re still a very lucky little girl. Because you have people who love you so much and who want to protect you.”

Violet looked down and nodded. “Yeah. I’m lucky.” She pulled herself onto her knees and hugged her fathers in turn. “I love you,” she whispered.

“We love you too, _preciosa._ Now get into bed and go to sleep.” Lance leaned over and kissed her forehead. Keith followed suit before leaving her room. Lance wrapped an arm around him and sighed. “That was good,” he murmured.

“I thought it would help her to know.” They reached their room and settled in to sleep. Keith like sleeping on his stomach while Lance preferred to sleep on his side. The cuddle days were over. Now it was just a matter of not tossing Lance over the side of the bed for snoring too loud. Still, every morning they managed to wake up with their legs tangled together.

The following day, the team was set out to help a planet that had been nearly completely destroyed by a Galra attack. It was free of any Galra trace, and after the realization that Violet needed to be socialized, Keith was considering taking her with them.

“You want to take Violet onto the planet?” Shiro questioned. He’d decided to vocalize his suggestion while Violet was playing in another room.

“It’s supposed to be safe, right?” Keith pointed out. It was already going against his better judgement. But he couldn’t keep Violet cooped up in the lion castle for another six years. “I want her to see some of the children. Make friends.”

“These families are hurt, Keith. They’ve been attacked. It might be too much for her.”

“Staying in a bunker until we come back isn’t right. This isn’t a fight, she won’t be in danger. If anything happens, I can get her into the lion to keep her safe.” Keith sighed and looked at Lance. “What do you think?”

Lance bit his lip and shrugged. “I want her to experience things. But this might not be the best way to start.”

“If I may,” Coran said, holding a finger up. “Perhaps you’re underestimating young Violet. She knows that we’re at war, she understands quite a lot for a small mind. Why not warn her, take her, and if it’s upsetting, someone brings her back?”

Lance and Keith shared a look, coming to an agreement before taking a deep breath. “Allura, is there any way we can get armor small enough for her?”

She nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.” She excused herself and left the group.

Meanwhile, Keith and Lance went to find Violet. When she saw them, she tilted her head and sighed. “Are you leaving again?”

“Not yet,” Keith murmured. “Come here.” She stood and walked over, looking at them with wide, curious eyes. “We were thinking that maybe you might be old enough to come with us.”

“Really?” she gasped. “Do I get my own lion?”

Lance chuckled and shook his head. “No, there’s only five lions. But before we do take you, we want to explain what things you might see.” She frowned. “Some of it is really scary.”

“Like what?”

“Like… someone crying because someone they love got hurt or died.”

“Or some who are very hurt and scared so they might look scary or say things that can scare you.”

Violet frowned and looked down at her hands. “You know how Uncle Shiro has a robot arm?” Keith asked. She nodded. “Well that’s because something happened to his human arm and it was replaced. Sometimes we see things like that too, but we can’t help them replace it.”

“Some of them could be sick.” Lance pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s things that little kids shouldn’t see.”

“I can do it,” she said. She looked up with a look of determination that mirrored the one Keith was known for. Filled with stubborn certainty and defiance. “I’m brave. I can help them too.”

Keith smiled and pushed her hair back. “I thought you’d say something like that.”

“Well, she is your daughter,” Lance said with a smile.

***

The smallest armor was still about two sizes too big for Violet, but she kept assuring everyone that it was fine, that she could walk and see and everything. The castle ship landed on the planet and the paladins exited. Violet stood between her parents, and looked out with wide eyes.

The planet was a murky green color. Its inhabitants were humanoid, with webbed hands and feet, They were dressed in what looked like plants. There were piles of technology that were steaming, broken. The inhabitants, the Malkae, were laying down in rows of mats. Others were walking among them, distributing salves and wraps. Children were in clusters, some crying, some sleeping, some doing nothing.

At the sight of the paladins, many of the Malkae struggled to sit up and look at them, murmuring in a smooth, melodic language. Keith felt a slight pressure against his leg. He looked down and saw Violet looking at a Melkae child with a missing leg and a wrap around their arm. Keith wondered if she wanted to go back, but before he could lean down to ask, she stepped forward and sat on the ground next to the child.

“Do you speak English? Or Spanish? Or Altean?” The child sat up and looked at her. “I’m Violet. Who are you?”

“Noriu,” he murmured. “I speak your tongue.” Violet smiled. “You’re a paladin?”

Violet looked down at her armor and shook her head. “No. But my daddies are.” She pointed back and Keith smiled, looking at Lance for a second. “They said I could come with them to help today. Do you want help?”

Noriu shook his head. “No. I can’t do anything anymore. I don’t have a leg.”

“You can still do lots of things!” she said. She stood up, lifting one leg and hopped around in a circle. “You can jump everywhere and you’ll have the best balance. Or you can cartwheel. Aunt Pidge taught me how, look.” She lunged forward to do a cartwheel, then toppled halfway through when her helmet slid off. She plopped down on the floor and looked at the Melkae child. Then they both burst into laughter, causing many adults to look over.

Lance pressed a hand to Keith’s arm. “Let’s go help others. She’s okay.”

For a while, the paladins went down the rows, helping with healing or feeding or finding supplies. They were scattered, and Violet often drifted to find them, greeting Melkae as she passed with a shy smile. Children began to flock to her, at least those who could move from their places. And Violet seemed excited at the sight of so many children near her age. They began playing a game, holding hands and twirling in a circle, taking turns turning backwards and giggling. Keith smiled and continued to work on a Melkae woman with a severe wound in her middle.

“She’s yours?” the womn whispered hoarsely. Keith nodded with a timid smile. “She looks like you.”

Keith looked over at Violet, the only child without webbed hands, but she didn’t seem fazed at all. She’d helped Noriu hop over to the group and was telling the others to be careful with his arm. Her hair had frizzed out of her braids and half of her armor had fallen off, leaving her in shorts and her favorite shirt. “Ah, she looks more like her Papa. The paladin in blue.” The woman glanced over at Lance and smiled.

“She looks like both of you.” Keith smiled and tried to clean out her wound. “It’s been a long time since I heard children’s laughter.”

“You don’t have children?” Keith asked gently.

She nodded. “I do.” She gestured. “The one with a limp and the one behind her like a shadow.” Keith looked over and saw the children she was referring to. The oldest had a protective stance in front of the youngest. The youngest looked like a toddler.

“Can I ask you something? As a parent?” She nodded and winced slightly as Keith began bandaging her. “Sorry. Um…. When we had Violet, it was… unexpected. And now that I have her, I love her more than anything. I have no doubt that I would do anything for her. But when I look at the devastation, the length of this war… I wonder…. Sometimes, I think….” Keith sighed and shut his eyes. He looked at Violet and furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m not sure if I did the right thing bringing her into a place filled with violence and war and loneliness. And when I think that… I feel horrible, like-”

The woman put a hand on his and gave him a strained smile, softened by her luminescent eyes. “You can’t shield children from everything. You didn’t do a bad thing by giving her life. You did something… wonderful. For you, for those around you. Look.” Keith looked at where she pointed. Violet was sitting with the children in front of a Melkae who was animatedly performing tricks for them. “She’s brought joy to Melkae who haven’t smiled in deca-phoebs. She’s given you reason to fight. Reason to be strong. She’s given you strength.”

Keith looked at his daughter and thought back to the day he’d found out he was pregnant. How appalled he was, how terrified, how angry he’d felt. He remembered the day he felt her kick, the day she was born and the day she called for him for the first time. How every single one of those moments gave him a break from the terror of war and made every fight worth it. He had been reckless before, quick to act and attack. Now, he was smarter. He had a reason to stay alive, to get back in one piece. He’d felt love in ways he’d never thought possible with Lance and his space family and of course Violet. All that love had given him strength and reason to not give up in this fight.

“I was afraid when I knew I’d have another child. She’s only two deca-phoebs. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to protect her. If I could protect them both.” Keith looked over at the children and saw that Violet was next to Hunk as he worked on making a make-shift crutch for one of the elderly Melkae. When he was done, he handed it to Violet who raced to give it to the one who needed it and smiled brightly, speaking what must have been encouragements. He looked at the other children and saw the two that belonged to the woman together, the small one clinging to the older one’s back like a koala. “But now, I know they protect each other. They have each other. They can play together when they’re scared, and they give me hope. And even if something happens to me, I know they’ll have each other.” Keith bit his lip and looked at the children. “Children bring hope for peace in the future, paladin. Perhaps your daughter will be the one who finds an end to this war. Or perhaps she’ll pave the way for it. Don’t feel guilty for not being able to control what happens in the universe.”

Keith looked back at her and nodded. “Thank you. You should rest. Your wound will take time to heal.” He stood and smiled before leaving her to tend to others.

When the light of day was fading, the paladins began making in large portions to distribute among the Melkae. Violet was walking with a smaller child and Noriu, talking and laughing. When most of the rubble had been cleared and the food distributed, Lance went to get Violet so the team could get back to the castle.

The entire day, Keith had been thinking about what the Melkae woman said. He hadn’t known her name, but what she’d said soothed him. He felt calmer somehow.

When they put her to bed, Lance kissed her forehead and smiled. “You did really good today, _pequena._ Made a lot of them smile.”

Violet smiled. “I made friends. I hope I see them again.” She looked down, and Keith tried not to show shock at her words. “Goodnight, _Papi._ Goodnight, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, buttercup. I love you.” They shut the door to the room and walked back to the room. Lance took Keith’s hand, the silence settling comfortably. They often needed that after long days like the one they’d had. When they got to their room and settled in for bed, Keith stared at the ceiling.

Lance’s hand slipped into his. “You okay, _mi amor?”_ Keith nodded slowly. “What are you thinking?”

Keith took a deep breath and squinted at the ceiling. His thoughts raced, making calculations, plans, moral decisions in the span of five long ticks. “I’m thinking…. I want another baby.”

Lance sat up in bed, gasping a “What?” so loud he started choking on air. Keith sat up in shock and leaned over him, waiting on him to catch his breath. Lance finally relaxed and took a breath. “Are… are you serious? What about… everything you said before? How much danger and-”

“I know,” Keith said. “But really…. Danger is everywhere, and we can only protect Violet so much. I do want another kid, Lance. I wouldn’t even hesitate if we weren’t paladins because being a dad… feels great. I thought being a pilot was all I could ever want, but… I was wrong. And I was only scared because I didn’t know what that meant for everything, but you’re right, we can plan, we know what to expect. Violet can have the sibling she wants just like she would if things were normal. And it wouldn’t be a solution to a problem, it’d be… an additional thing to give us strength and hope.” Lance put a hand against his cheek and furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”

“Are you sure about this? About having another?” Keith nodded slowly. “A hundred percent? A hundred and twenty percent?”

“Yes, Lance,” Keith chuckled. “I mean it. I want to.”

“Well then, we’d better get started!” Lance tackled Keith onto the bed and kissed him, with Keith laughing against his mouth, teasing insults swallowed by Lance’s lips.

Before Keith could even stop laughing, they heard a knock. Keith stood and let the door slide open, revealing Violet with a stuffed purple lion Allura had found for her. She looked nervous. “Can I sleep with you?” she whispered.

“What’s wrong, buttercup? We just put you to bed.” Violet hesitated, and when Keith knelt down to be at eye-level with her, he saw her tears brimming in her eyes. “Violet?”

She sniffed and looked at him. “I’m just sad,” she whimpered. “I made friends, and I might not see them, and so many people were sad and I don’t want them to get sad again, and I know I’m supposed to be brave so I can go with you but I can’t help it, Daddy.” Keith felt his heart break in two and he pulled her into his arms, shushing her gently.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, shh.” He lifted her and took her to the bed, where Lance scooted over to make room for her, eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Being brave doesn’t mean you don’t cry. And just because you cry, that doesn’t mean we won’t take you again. You did a good job out there today.” Keith ran his hand through her curls and laid beside her. “It’s okay to be sad. I know it’s scary. And you’re just a little girl.”

Lance wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close. “We’re very proud of you, you know?” he whispered to her. Violet wiped her eyes and hugged her lion closer. “You can cry if you want. You might feel better. And we’ll have you in a Papa Sandwich.” Lance threw his arms over her and onto Keith. Keith mirrored it, encasing their daughter between them. She laughed, and then her laughter turned into soft, shaky cries.

It hurt Keith’s heart to listen to her cries, but Lance was right. Maybe she needed to be able to cry instead of pushing it down. Hadn’t he learned that the hard way? Violet remained between her parents, hugging her stuffed lion tightly with one hand, the other holding onto her fathers’ arms. She shook slightly, crying softly. Then Keith heard Lance’s voice begin to sing a lullaby softly, raspy, and tired, but soothing and melodious. It was the lullaby he would sing to her when Keith was pregnant and for the first year when he put her to sleep.

Before long, all three of them were asleep.

***

It was their fifth anniversary. Lance had managed to get Hunk and Pidge to watch Violet for the night so he could celebrate with Keith. There wasn’t much to do to celebrate in space, but Lance knew that Keith liked to look out at the stars from the highest peak of the castle. And he took him there each year.

Keith loved being able to feel safe and calm for those moments when he could feel Lance’s presence beside him and had an endless expanse of stars and galaxies to mesmerize him. He intertwined his hand in Lance’s and sighed. “I love you,” he whispered.

Lance leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I love you too.”

Keith looked at him and smiled, wondering how he could feel so at peace with Lance. There was a time when being near him and feeling his blue-eyed gaze on him caused a million butterflies in his stomach and made him blush. That was gone. But it wasn’t a bad thing like Keith thought it would be. Instead, those jitters had been replaced by a level of peace and comfort Keith hadn’t known before. Lance was like an extension of him. Being near him felt like the only right thing in the universe.

“You know, I miss my family a lot. My home. I miss a lot of stuff from Earth. But after all this time…. It feels like I found a home in you,” Lance murmured, caressing Keith’s cheek. Keith leaned into his hand and kept his eyes on Lance. Home. That was the word. He felt like home. “We made our own family.”

Keith smiled and pressed his forehead against his. “You gave me a family,” he whispered. He leaned in and kissed him lightly.

Lance hummed and pulled Keith onto him as he laid back. “I can give you something else too, if you want,” he smirked.

Keith groaned and pulled himself up. He glared at Lance who was looking at him smugly as his hands ran up Keith’s sides. “God, you’re lucky you’re cute,” Keith grumbled, leaning down to kiss him. Lance chuckled and tangled his fingers in Keith’s hair.

Amidst soft laughter, gentle murmurs, and sweet nothings, clothes were discarded and Lance was touching Keith in ways that made him squirm and gasp and moan. He never did know what changes his body made. He never wanted to know, he just knew Lance didn’t mind and liked to make him feel good through said changes. But ever since Violet, Keith hadn’t let Lance top again, for fear of another pregnancy and lack of contraceptives.

Now, he was suddenly remembering how mush-brained he’d been those first few times. His toes curled and they were only beginning. Lance liked to be slow about their lovemaking, admiring and kissing and marking every part of Keith he could before really getting anywhere. Long, warm fingers traced over his skin in feather-light touches, his lips planted wet kisses over his stomach and shoulders. Lance lifted himself up, looking Keith in his eyes as he pushed in. He watched as Keith’s mouth fell open, his eyes rolled back, and his eyebrows furrowed. He lifted his head like a reflex before letting it fall back and letting out soft whimpers.

“You okay?” Lance whispered.

Keith nodded and moaned, gripping his arms. “Forgot… how good… a-ah.” Lance smiled and leaned down to kiss his neck, thrusting in and out slowly, drawing out beautiful sounds from Keith. Before long, Keith was pushing his heels into Lance’s back, whining softly. “More,” he breathed. “Harder. Faster.” Lance nodded, kissing him desperately as he complied. Keith bite onto his lip, gasping for air as Lance made his body spark with need and want and fire.

He wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulders, holding onto him as Lance pushed into him, rocking their bodies. With each thrust, a small moaning mewl escaped Keith’s lips and a low, husky grunt escaped Lance’s. Keith slid one hand to Lance’s cheek and looked at his face. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed before a gasping moan slipped through.

“Keith,” Lance breathed. “I’m… I’m close.” Keith nodded and pulled him closer, using his feet to push Lance’s body into him. Lance grunted and gasped for breath, and Keith felt him finish in him, felt the warmth filling him and heard it as Lance continued through it. Lance’s hand slipped down and Keith arched his back, losing focus for a moment as Lance touched him. Lance pulled out and scrambled down, tongue licking upwards and it was that which sent Keith over the edge with a muffled yelp. “Happy anniversary, my love.”

“Happy anniversary,” Keith murmured, shutting his eyes tiredly, hands roaming Lance’s warm body. He kissed his sweaty forehead and looked at the expanse of stars again, wondering how he’d gotten so lucky.

“Unless we want someone to find us up here, we should get dressed and go back to our room,” Lance whispered, running his lips back and forth along his jaw. “We can go again.” He kissed the spot under his ear. “And again.” He kissed the sharp curve of his jawbone. “And again.” He kissed his neck. Keith sighed and ran his hand through Lance’s soft curls.

He smiled as Lance’s tongue swirled against his neck. “It’s hard to think that there was a time we weren’t this in love. This inseparable.”

“That we were rivals?”

Keith scoffed and looked at Lance, running his hand along the stubble on his cheek. “We were never rivals,” he whispered. “You put that in your own head. I teased you because you teased me. You seemed to love upsetting me.” Lance snorted and intertwined their hands. “I love you.”

“ _Te amo con todo mi corazón, mi vida.”_ Keith smiled at the Spanish he’d slowly begun to understand.

That night, between sleepy murmurs and tired laughter and lazy kisses, their room had been filled with sounds of love and want and desire. Even after five years of marriage, everything always felt new and beautiful.

***

Two months had passed. Violet was almost seven. Keith didn’t feel any nausea or feel any different. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to know whether he was pregnant or not. He wasn’t sure how to know when he could.

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked Keith one day while they were training. Hunk had gotten significantly better over the years and provided a challenge for Keith because he was stronger while Keith was lither. Keith grunted and kept fighting. Hunk gripped the staff he was using and yanked it away. “I’m serious dude. You’ve been acting weird.”

“I’m fine,” he breathed. “Really. Nothing different.” Nothing at all. Hunk looked at him with wide brown eyes, expectant and waiting. Keith sighed and took his staff back, leaning against it. “We’re trying to get pregnant and… it’s not working so I’m a little stressed.”

Hunk blinked a few times, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Um…. Wait, really?” Keith nodded. “I mean… that’s great, you know, but… why? I mean with how much you worry about Violet and the fighting and-”

“I know,” he nodded. “I do want another. I love being a dad. And I was scared about all of that but then…. I don’t know it just… seems right. Violet would have someone to grow with, we-I would have more reason to fight, more reason to be happy, and hopeful. And Violet really wants a sibling. I saw how she was with the Melkae children. She’d be such a good sister.”

Hunk smiled and nodded. “Well if it’s what you both really want. Maybe Pidge or Allura can look into the biology more and help you out.” Keith bit his lip and nodded. “Come on, buddy.” He put a hand on his shoulder and took him out of the training room.

Later, Keith found himself in the lab again while Pidge researched and Allura looked back at the records from when Keith had been pregnant with Violet. He felt self-conscious sitting there with EKG stickers on his abdomen.

“There aren’t any signs of a current pregnancy,” Hunk murmured, looking at the screen, unconsciously piling the scattered notes Pidge was making. Keith clenched his jaw and tried not to show that the words didn’t bother him.

Something about it hurt. What if he could only have one child? What if something was wrong with him and he couldn’t have another? Keith felt his throat close up and he looked down at the stickers and wires on his stomach.

“How long did you say you’ve been trying?” Pidge asked, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. She liked keeping it short, but it was longer than it was when they first met.

“About two months. I got nausea after two weeks with Violet, which is the only reason I know it’s not working.” He sighed and scratched his neck. “This is ridiculous. I didn’t want a kid when I got pregnant. Now that I want one, I c-can’t-” He shut his eyes and swallowed hard.

Pidge took his hand and squeezed. “Relax. Your body is obviously still capable. We just have to figure out the Galra pattern. It’s obviously not the same as a human’s.” Pidge bit down on her pencil moved next to Hunk to look over all the notes. They talked softly, consulting in voices Keith couldn’t hear.

Allura walked over to him. “Look what I found,” she said, holding a few papers. She handed them to him and leaned against the cot.

Keith looked at the papers and smiled to himself. “They’re like ultrasound pictures,” he whispered. He looked at the first scan he’d ever had during his pregnancy. The one that had sent him into panicked hysterics. He flipped through the pictures, watching as his daughter grew and grew and grew. And then there was a picture of the day she was born. Small, fragile, bundled in a blanket. “Wow. We were just kids,” he murmured, looking at his and Lance’s faces. Free of facial hair, with the smooth edges of youth, free of battle scars.

“You never told me what changed your mind in the beginning.” Keith hummed and gave Allura a questioning look. “About Violet. You seemed… so certain you didn’t want to go through with it, and then suddenly you did.”

“Oh,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Well…. A lot of things, I guess. I was scared because I was embarrassed. I’m a guy, and I was young. It felt vulnerable and I didn’t think I could do it. I thought I’d be a horrible dad, and… honestly part of me thought Lance would go away one day. Everyone always did before.” He looked down at the picture of him holding his newborn daughter with Lance leaning over him, giving him a fond look. “Once I woke up to Lance talking to my stomach. He was talking quietly, I guess to not wake me up. Something about the way he talked to her… with so much hope and happiness…. He had so much faith that everything would be okay. And he called her our baby. I guess that’s when it became tangible for me. She would always be something that united us. I was still scared, but… not for me anymore, you know?” He looked up at Allura and chuckled. “I’m so happy I didn’t make that decision. My little girl….” He chuckled and thought back fondly of those first few months when he was able to hold her in his arms. “I love her so much. It’s a level of love I didn’t think possible. Endless, limitless. Infinite.” Allura smiled and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulders.

Pidge returned to Keith, her hair unruly, half out of her ponytail like she’d run her hands through it way too many times. “There’s not enough on Galra. A lot of records are gone, and it’s hard to have a big enough sample to average out the time of ovulation, so to speak. It’s not necessarily the same thing for Galra, much less the males, plus you’re only part Galra. There’s too many factors and too many blanks for us to even get a guess on how it works. We’ll keep searching, but right now my only suggestion is to keep trying and we’ll keep scanning and testing you.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows and shut his eyes. “What we can say,” Hunk added, “is that you’re definitely able to still. There’s nothing in your body that’s prohibiting you from being able to bear a child again.”

He nodded and removed the stickers on his stomach, put his shirt back on, and smiled at his friends. “Thanks for this, guys. I appreciate it. Allura, could you keep these safe for me?” He handed the pictures back to Allura and left the room.

He returned to his own and found Lance and Violet on the floor, Violet in his lap as he played a game on the phone Pidge had made him so he would stop stealing hers. He looked up when Keith came in and smiled. “Hey, baby. Where’ve you been?”

“Lab. Researching. How long have you been playing?” Violet peeked up at Lance and Lance looked down at Violet. “That look tells me the answer is something like, ‘too long.’”

“Daddy, can we go to the training room again?” Violet asked, scrambling off of Lance. “I want _Papi_ to see me fight the robots.”

“You hurt your hand the last time we used the robots.”

“But I didn’t cry,” she said. She looked at him pleadingly, batting her lashes, her large purple eyes looking like something out of a cartoon. “ _Ple-ease?”_

Keith sighed and smiled at her, nodding. He was weak for puppy-dog faces, and both his husband and his daughter loved exploiting that. Violet cheered and hauled Lance up, dragging them both out the door and to the training room.

A while back, with Pidge’s help, Keith made a special training sequence level for Violet that would be simple for her age. They moved slower, attacked with simple taps instead full-blown hits, and Pidge had managed to make the system call out encouragements as well. She’d only hurt her hand because she gripped her staff wrong and hit the metal. She’d yelped and dropped her staff, gritting her teeth. But she hadn’t cried. Keith really did have a habit of underestimating her.

“ _Papi,_ you have to watch me the whole time,” she insisted. Lance chuckled and sat on the floor. Keith sat beside him and nodded at Violet, who stepped out to the center of the mat. “Begin training sequence CS1!”

“CS1?” Lance whispered.

“Child-safety level one,” Keith answered. Lance nodded and smiled.

The robots started for her at a walking pace. Above them, a robotic voice said, “Get ready. Keep your stance. Stay focused. You’ve got this.”

Violet’s eyes narrowed, and she used her staff to sweep the legs out from under one robot, ran across the room to another, knocking its weapon- which only shot out beams of light, not actual lasers- out of its hand and shoving it back with one end. Lance whistled and nudged Keith gently. “She reminds me of you when you train.” Keith smiled and watched as Violet ran to each slow-moving robot, moving with her staff like he’d taught her.

“End of training sequence CS1. Great job!” the voice above complimented.

Violet scampered over to her parents and smiled proudly. “That was awesome, _princesita!_ You did great!” Violet smiled wider, blushing slightly. “You know what you showed those robots?”

Then she lifted one hand over her head the other across her chest, and wiggled her fingers. “Razzle-dazzle!” Keith nearly choked.

Lance whooped and pulled her into a hug. “That’s my girl!”

Keith groaned and hid his face. “You showed her that?” Lance grinned and planted a kiss on her cheek as she laughed. Keith really did love his curly haired dorks.

***

Lance was optimistic. He kept assuring Keith that they’d get pregnant, and they just had to keep trying. Keith was slowly losing his hope. He was starting to come to terms with the idea of Violet being his only child, of not being able to give her siblings. But it’d been another three months, and Violet was going to turn seven in three weeks.

The most painful part was that every night for the last month, Keith would find himself crying into his pillow because all of their attempts were futile. At those moments, Lance always snaked his arm around him and pulled him against his chest, humming softly in his ear. Sex wasn’t the same simply because they both knew that Keith didn’t believe it would work. And despite Lance’s gentle reassurances, Keith still cried and seemed more aware of his empty abdomen.

Research had gotten nowhere. And Keith found himself in the lab every week or so. Lately though, he felt more like he was just counting down the minutes before he could leave, take a nap, then wake up pretending nothing was wrong. He’d began taking each mission instead of switching out with Shiro, using his frustration in his fighting. The others were aware, but none of them said anything.

It was late, and Keith couldn’t sleep. Lance was snoring beside him, and Keith felt particularly shitty. Lance had tried to make him feel better that evening and all Keith had done was snap at him and push him away. Then they’d both gone through the motions of sex if only to say they were still trying, but it left them both feeling hurt more than anything. He knew this was taking a toll on Lance too. He knew Lance’s hopes were getting crushed each time that monitor showed nothing new. He knew Lance wanted another kid just as much as Keith did.

Keith turned his head and looked at Lance. He’d shaved that day, so he looked younger. Keith reached out and touched a scar that ran down the side of Lance’s right eyebrow to just below his cheekbone. He touched the pale scar under his jaw where he’d dealt with a knife at his throat. Keith remembered feeling so full of rage and fear, it had taken everything in him not to act on impulse and put everyone in danger.

He let out a shaky breath and leaned forward, kissing his husband gently. His lips were unresponsive, but Keith kissed him harder, pulling him in. Lance grunted and Keith moved to his neck, whispering, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I love you.”

Slowly, Lance woke up and with a raspy, confused voice he asked, “Keith, what? What’s wrong?”

Keith shook his head and kissed his lips again. “Nothing. I love you. I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish.” Lance looked at him with his brilliantly blue eyes, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’m not angry with you, but I act like I am, and I’m….” Keith sighed and kissed him lightly again.

“Oh, _mi amor._ I know you’re not. It’s okay.” Keith shook his head, but Lance stopped him with another kiss, this one longer, sweeter, deeper.

Keith found himself climbing onto Lance, moaning against his mouth. Before he knew it, their clothes were off and he was gasping against Lance’s ear with his arms wrapped over his shoulders as he lifted and lowered his hips onto Lance. This time it wasn’t like before. It wasn’t filled with frustration and half-hearted kisses. It was warm again. It was tender and sweet and wonderful and Keith wanted nothing more than to stay where he was, feeling like his heart would burst with the amount of love he felt for Lance.

Lance’s arms were wrapped around Keith’s middle, supporting him as he bit and sucked at his neck. Keith pulled back and rested his forehead against Lance’s as he moved, their eyes half-lidded and filled with adoration, their breaths warm against the other’s face. Lance leaned into him to plant soft, light kisses on his parted lips a few times before their movements became more erratic, and their breaths lost their rhythm. Lance thrust up with each time Keith let himself push down, and it took sloppy kisses to muffle their moans and groans. Lance moved one hand to wrap around Keith and began to pump, making Keith throw his head back. Suddenly his body felt like every nerve ending was bursting with fireworks and Lance was still pushing into him, kissing him, loving him. Keith whimpered and curled his toes so hard it hurt, but he didn’t care because everything else felt so _good._

He felt warmth filling him and Lance’s open mouth was pressed into his collarbone, his breaths quick and shallow against his skin.

“I love you,” Keith breathed, his voice shaking and broken as he searched blindly for Lance’s lips, too tired to open his eyes.

Lance snuggled into his neck and laid Keith down before kissing him and pulling him up against his chest. “I love you more than you can imagine.” Keith smiled and fell asleep without crying.

Three days later, Keith was back in the lab, feeling annoyed but not quite so upset. As the tests were taken, Lance was beside him fidgeting. Allura sighed and shook her head. Then Lance blurted, “What if it’s me?”

Allura and Keith looked at him. “What?”

Lance gulped and bit his lip. “I mean… you keep looking to see if Keith’s body is okay, but…. What if it’s something wrong with me? What if it’s my fault we can’t get pregnant again?” Keith’s lips parted in shock as he registered what Lance was saying. He looked at Allura and saw that she was slowly realizing it was in fact a possibility.

“I supposed we can run some tests on you as well,” she said. “I’m not sure how long the results will take though.”

Lance nodded and kissed Keith’s cheek. “Go back to Violet. I’ll get back to you soon.” Keith nodded, and left, feeling like he wasn’t in his own body. An indefinite amount of time later, Lance returned and took Keith’s hand wordlessly as they settled for lunch. Keith looked at him questioningly, but Lance just squeezed his hands.

Later, when Keith was able to get Lance alone, he searched his eyes, looking for some sign of what his results were. “What happened?” he asked gently.

Lance shook his head. “Nothing yet. Allura said she was going to run a bunch of tests on my blood and well, my semen.” He blushed and rubbed his face. “If it’s me…. God, Keith, I’m so sorry.”

Keith pulled his hands away and kissed the knuckles. “Shh. Don’t do that,” he whispered. He looked him in the eyes and caressed his cheek. “You need to know that no matter what, I won’t blame you or hate you. We already have a beautiful little girl and when I married you, I promised to love you no matter what. If we can’t have another baby, that’s okay. I already have so much more than I deserve with you and Violet in my life.” He kissed him and smiled, wiping away a tear that had slid down Lance’s cheek. “It’s okay. I promise, it’s okay. I love you.” Lance nodded and leaned into him, fighting the guilt that threatened to choke him.

***

A week later, they were back in the lab. Keith was gripping Lance’s hand tightly hoping to reassure him that everything would be absolutely fine. Allura was finishing up her scans and putting together her results for them both. She looked confused, and it wasn’t helping either of their nerves.

She cleared her throat and looked at them. “Um… I’m not sure how you’ll take this,” she said slowly.

Keith felt his breath catch and Lance was shaking beside him. “What is it?” he asked, his voice stronger than he thought it would be. “If we can’t, then just-”

“It’s not that,” Allura interrupted. She furrowed her eyebrows and turned the monitor. Keith stared at it and frowned, trying to understand. It looked different and familiar but strange. He looked at Allura, waiting for an explanation. She chuckled nervously and pointed. “It looks like you’re expecting two children this time.”

Keith felt every ounce of air leave him at once. Lance froze completely beside him. “T-twins?” he asked. “I’m having twins?” Allura nodded slowly and Keith covered his mouth. It seemed like there was always a surprise.


	3. Chapter 3

Ironically enough, the news of twins didn’t send Keith into a panic. The same couldn’t be said about Lance. He’d been shocked into silence since he found out, walking about in a daze. Violet had questioned whether he was okay, but Keith assured her he was just tired. He also asked Allura to keep the news quiet for now. He wanted to be sure there weren’t any complications or problems that would result in something happening to the babies.

That night, Keith waited patiently while Lance sat on the bed, blank faced. He prepared for bed and nudged Lance aside. If he wanted to stay awake, that was fine, but Keith wanted sleep. At some point in the night, Keith woke up to hands shaking him and he grumbled as he opened his eyes. Lance was looking at him, with wide, panicked eyes.

“We’re having twins.”

Keith sighed and turned onto his side, away from him. “Yeah, Lance that’s what the scans claimed.”

Lance pulled on him, turning him back around. “Why aren’t you freaking out?” he whisper-shouted. “That’s two! Two babies! Two humans growing in you! Two that-that have to come out of you, two babies we have to feed and keep safe, two fragile things that…. Oh God, that’s twice as many diapers and crying a-and pooping and when they get sick, it’s going to be two of them crying at the same time, and-”

Keith sat up and put his hands on either side of Lance’s face. “Okay, breathe. Please.” Lance did, but it sounded more like hyperventilation. “Slower, babe.” Lance huffed and ran his hand through his hair. “Lance, calm down.”

“But… this is insane! I thought my stuff wasn’t working, and then we find out it worked too well? What are we supposed to do?”

Keith chuckled and kissed him softly. “It’s going to be fine. We have our family here. And Violet’s going to be a great sister. Let’s make sure everything’s okay before you go off freaking out over two kids. Besides, there’s two of us. We can do it.”

Something in Keith’s words managed to sober him. Lance stopped shaking and leaned into Keith, wrapping his arms around him protectively. Keith looked at his flat stomach and wondered if he would show quicker or if he’d grow bigger than he had with Violet. He wasn’t sure what twins entailed.

He knew it meant double the chaos, but he wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t doing it on his own. They had their space family here to help when they needed it. Everything would be fine. Keith could feel that down to his bones. He felt Lance’s lips at the spot under his ear and sighed in content. It would all be perfectly fine.

***

 Keith didn’t feel different. He didn’t get nauseous. His stomach wasn’t growing quicker. A lot of times, he forgot he’d even gotten the news that he was pregnant again. And more often he forgot it was twins this time.

He continued to train, to go out on missions, continued teaching Violet what he could with hand to hand combat when Lance wasn’t whisking her away to teach her how to shoot- using the space equivalent of nerf guns of course.

They were preparing for her birthday party, and Pidge had set up the cloaking around the castle to prevent any sudden attacks. It was a day for Violet, and the last thing they needed was to be sent out on a mission.

Lance had insisted on waking her up early with the Spanish birthday song, so Violet was asleep on the couch in the lounge area while Hunk made her cake and everyone else set up decorations or background music. Allura and Coran were planning something else, but they wouldn’t even tell Keith and Lance what it was. The princess had assured them that it wouldn’t be regarding the pregnancy though.

Some time later, Keith went to wake Violet up and smiled. “Come on birthday girl. Time to celebrate.” She smiled and sat up so quickly, she nearly butted heads with him. He took her to the lounge area where they’d set up a table with a few gifts and her cake. Everyone hugged her and wished her a happy birthday, and although they typically cut the cake before opening presents, Coran insisted on presents first.

“Come on, little one. You have to close your eyes,” Coran told her guiding her out of the room. Keith and Lance exchanged confused looks and followed them.

“What is it, Nino? Is it my own lion?” she asked.

Coran chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. A few moments later, he sat her down by the control room and said, “Alright. Are you ready?” She nodded excitedly and Coran led her into the room.

Keith gasped, but kept himself from saying anything until Violet was told to look. She opened her eyes and Keith watched her eyes go wide. “Noriu!” she shrieked, running forward to engulf her friend in a hug.

“They told us it is your birthday,” he said with a smile. She nodded.

“Liko, Rhotma, Sif!” she cried as she recognized her other new friends. “Where’s Iyalla?”

“Ah, Iyalla was feeling too sick to come, but she said she hoped you have fun,” Coran said quickly. Before the children could say anything, their parents, and the Melkae who had told the children stories came forward to greet her and tell her happy birthday.

Coran gave the other paladins a look, that told Keith the truth. Iyalla must not have made it. Her injuries must have been too great.

Among the adults who had come to greet Violet was the Melkae woman Keith had spoken to the day they visited. He smiled when she recognized him and moved forward to greet him. “Paladin, how have you been?” she asked.

“I’ve been great,” he answered, taking her hand. “How have you been? I’m glad to see you’re much healthier.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, you helped me plenty. I’m doing well. My children were excited to see your daughter again.”

Keith smiled as he looked at Violet who had begun a game of tag with the Melkae children. “Oh, this is my husband,” he said, gesturing to Lance. “Violet’s other father.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Azalia.”

“Lance,” he responded, shaking her hand. Keith realized he’d never heard her name before. “Violet has missed the children so much since we last visited.”

“Well, the princess contacted us and told us her birthday was coming up. They picked us up at the start of the day. We were anxious to see young Violet again.” Lance smiled proudly, obviously pleased that his daughter was so admired on other planets.

“Um, Lance. Azalia is actually the one I talked to about having more children than just Violet,” he said softly.

Lance raised his eyebrows and looked at her before looking back at Keith. “Well, do you want to tell her the news?” Keith nodded and Lance pecked his cheek. “Go on.”

Keith looked at Azalia and tried to hold back his smile. “We’re having twins,” he whispered. “But none of the others know yet. We’re waiting to tell Violet, just to be sure everything turns out okay-”

“Oh, congratulations!” she squealed, wrapping him in a hug. “That’s wonderful news.” She turned to Lance and hugged him tightly. “I’m so happy to hear that your family is growing. And no worries, I can keep a secret.” She smiled and squeezed their hands.

When Keith looked over at Lance, he found his husband smiling fondly at him, admiration clear on his features. “We have plenty of food and we’ll cut the cake once the children get tired of playing,” Lance said. “Let’s go celebrate.” Azalia went to greet the other paladins and Lance wrapped his arms around Keith. “You’re glowing,” he murmured. “When you talk about the babies, you get this glow.” Keith blushed and nudged his rib.

Violet ran towards them and looked at them with a radiant smile. “This is the best birthday ever!”

Keith and Lance helped serve food for the children and Melkae while the other paladins gathered them in the lounge. Hunk managed to make a DIY pin the tail on the Robeast for them to play later.

Keith had never seen his daughter so happy.

***

By the end of the day, Violet was playing with her new toys along with her friends, running through the castle with them. The adults were eating Hunk’s cake and Lance was telling stories of the beginnings for Voltron to entertain them.

Keith was putting away the trash when Shiro went up to him and gave him a look. Keith looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” he said.

“What makes you say that?” Keith responded.

“Because I know my brother. And you’re acting different.”

Keith laughed and shook his head. “Well, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He walked away and put the trash in a chute before going to sit beside his husband.

Once the children had tired and the Melkae had to return home, Violet settled herself between her parents and leaned into Lance’s chest. Lance was singing to her as he braided her hair until she fell asleep.

***

Keith’s stomach didn’t distend until he was about two and a half months into his pregnancy. According to Allura, there weren’t any complications. But it was still early. It was still early, and Keith’s body was different than the moms on Earth, it was different from the Galra males that could morph to hold children. He was a half breed and he was different which meant there were still possible complications.

He still didn’t want to tell anyone.

“ _Calla mientras la cuna se balancea. A la nanita nana, nanita ella.”_ Lance was singing into his shoulder, his hand rubbing soothing circles along his hard, slightly distended stomach. The muscles he’d gained over years of fighting had smoothed over and rounded. The others couldn’t tell with his shirts, but Lance easily could whenever he ran his hands over his stomach.

“What does that mean?” Keith mumbled into his pillow.

“Hush while the crib rocks for balance. The rest is just soothing.” He pulled Keith’s hair away from his ear. “So what do you think? A boy and a girl? Two girls? Two boys?”

“Mm, one of each,” Keith whispered sleepily. “We need names.”

“What about Leo for a boy? Wasn’t that one you wanted before?”

“I was thinking colors. Blue or Grey for a boy. Scarlet or Ebony for a girl.”

Lance chuckled and turned Keith around. “Really? Violet, Grey, and Scarlet. Our kids better be artists.” Keith smiled sleepily and Lance threaded his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe we’re the parents that name their kids after colors.”

“’S just an idea,” Keith yawned.

Lance pressed a kiss to his forehead and pulled him in closer. “ _Duermete, mi amor.”_

The next morning, Keith woke up to Lance draped over him, his arms wrapped protectively around his stomach. He smiled and gently freed himself from the embrace. He changed and went into the kitchen to find something to eat.

“Hungry?” he heard Hunk ask behind him. He turned and smiled when he saw Pidge drinking a mug of something hot at a table while Hunk sat across from her. “Morning.”

“Good morning, guys. Yeah, I’m a little hungry. But I don’t really know what I want to eat.”

There was a silence and he turned to see Pidge smirking at him. “How far along?”

“Huh?”

“Your pregnancy.”

Keith’s mouth fell open and he walked toward them, glancing around to be sure Violet wasn’t around. “How did you guys know?”

“You stopped asking us for tests in the lab,” Hunk said. “Plus Pidge had a few theories, and this one fell into two of them.”

Keith raised an eyebrow and sat down with them. “Um. Two months and a week.”

“Seriously?” Pidge asked with a smile. “Dude, congrats! I take it you feel better about this one since you’re older and know what to expect.”

Keith sighed and sat down as Hunk got up and rummaged around. “Actually, no, not really,” he said nervously. She frowned and furrowed her eyebrows. He sighed and tried to determine who else was awake.

“Vi’s with Coran in the lion hangar. They’re getting checkups,” Pidge said.

He nodded and looked at the table. “Allura said it’s twins this time. And I’m freaking out because I don’t know what to expect with my body. I don’t fall into human norms or Galran norms. I don’t even want to tell Violet because what if she gets all excited and after eight or nine months… something goes wrong?” He was vaguely aware of something salty and greasy being cooked, making his mouth water. He sniffed out the source only to have Hunk place a plate in front of him. “Oh my God, thank you.”

“Did I hear that right? Twins?” he asked. Pidge nodded. “Keith, you can’t just not tell Violet. She’s a smart kid, and she’s going to notice when your stomach gets bigger. If something does happen… well, she’s going to have to understand that too.” Keith grimaced and ate his food, not bothering with the utensils he’d been given.

“You know, I really never expected my life to turn into this,” he mumbled, licking his finger clean. Pidge grimaced as he stuffed more food into his mouth and he huffed. “Stop looking at me,” he snapped.

“Alright,” she snorted. “So does Shiro or Coran know yet?” Keith shook his head. “How far along were you when you told us about Violet?”

“I think four months. She’d started kicking.” Pidge nodded and smiled at the memory. Keith suddenly paled and looked at his stomach. “Oh no, no, no. Violet used to go nuts when Lance talked to her, I’m gonna have two of them doing that to me now, how am I supposed to handle that? Oh my God, what if they hurt each other? Can anything happen to them, I mean-”

“Why is Keith freaking out?” Shiro yawned as he shuffled into the kitchen.

Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe. He remembered how much it hurt when Violet had kicked at all of his innards, how he could barely manage his damn bladder because of her weight, how painful and exhausting giving birth to her was even with the advanced Altean medicine.

“Whoa, hey, hey, easy, Keith.” Hunk pulled him up and snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “Look at me, buddy. Easy, easy. Breathe in. Out. In… hold it.” Keith was shaking. “Out. In. Hold.”

When Hunk managed to calm him down, Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Keith gulped and stole the cup Shiro had served himself juice in much to the latter’s annoyance. “I dunno I’m pregnant with twins and I have no fucking clue what that means for them or my body and I’m terrified, I mean what the _fuck.”_

Shiro faltered and looked at Keith with wide eyes. “You’re what?”

Lance walked in a few seconds later and stopped short at the sight of the other’s worried faces. “What happened?” he asked, immediately tensing up. His eyes went to Keith who was holding his stomach as he tossed the juice back. “Keith?”

“You guys are pregnant?” Shiro asked.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips. “You told them? I thought we were gonna do that together.”

“Well, we actually figured it out, and then Shiro walked in mid-panic attack.” Lance’s head whipped to look at Keith.

“What happened?”

Keith felt his throat close up as Shiro and Lance looked at him in worried confusion and Hunk seemed tense and ready to stabilize him again. Pidge was the only one not looking right at him. “Nothing,” he said softly.

“Well… why are you about to cry?” Lance asked.

“I’m not!” he whined indignantly. Only his voice cracked because, yes he was. “I….” He whimpered and dashed out of the room, feeling his heart pounding in his ears.

He felt someone tug him by the arm and then he felt himself get pressed against someone’s chest. “Baby, hey….” Lance. “ _Mi tesoro hermoso,_ what’s going on?”

Keith started crying and shook his head. “I don’t know, I just feel really scared about everything. I just…. There’s going to be double _everything_ and I don’t know how I’m gonna make it, or if they are and-”

He hid his face, feeling embarrassed because he hadn’t broken down like this in a long time. He was an adult and he felt like he was acting like a teenager.

“Hey, no remember, you said it yourself. We have our family. We’re in this together.”

Keith shoved him away and scowled. “You’re not the one who’s going to be getting kicked at each time you come back from a mission! You’re not the one that’s going to feel like your body is tearing itself in two _twice!_ And if something goes wrong, it’s _my_ fault because it’s _my_ body! I’m going to be the one dealing with those pains, and you have no way of even coming close to knowing how it feels!” Lance clenched his jaw and waited for Keith to finish before considering his words.

“Look, you’re right. There’s some stuff I can’t share with you exactly.” Keith scoffed and turned away, hugging himself. Lance touched his arm lightly and tilted his head up. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna be there for you, _mi amor._ I’ll be there to soothe you when they kick you. I’ll be there holding your hand when they’re born. And I’m going to do everything I possibly can to pamper you and help you feel better, to ease the pain.” He bit his lip and placed one hand on Keith’s cheek. His voice became lower and his eyes became sad. “And if something goes wrong, I’m going to be right there crying with you. And I’m never going to blame you. I’ll be suffering with you and we’ll pull through it together.” He took Keith’s hands and kissed them. “But I’m also going to do everything I can right now to help you and make sure we don’t reach that point. You hear me?” Keith took a breath and nodded, letting Lance pull him into a hug.

He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so lucky as to have Lance as a lifetime partner.

\--

Once his stomach started growing, it seemed to grow quicker. By the third month, he couldn’t fit into his suit anymore. Shiro took his place again and Keith played it off by telling Violet he wasn’t feeling good. They stayed behind with Coran and helped make sure their family returned safely.

By the fourth month, Keith’s stomach was pretty distended and even Violet could tell over his shirts and jacket.

“Daddy, you’re getting fat,” she said once while she played with a doll that resembled an Arusian.

Keith looked down at his stomach and ran a hand over it. Allura had said he was completely healthy, and so were the twins. So far, there hadn’t been any complications. The only changes Keith felt was increasing hunger and very sudden mood swings that made him cry at least twice a day and he’d argue with Lance over the tiniest things. He could tell Lance was wearing thin with the arguments, but they simply took some time apart to cool off.

“No I’m not,” Keith answered, shoving more space chips in his face.

“Daddy, I see your stomach,” she pointed out. “And you make Papi bend over to pick stuff up for you all the time. You’re fat.”

“You’re mean,” he mumbled. She giggled and continued to make her Arusian doll beat up a stuffed animal that resembled a dog. “I’ll be right back, pumpkin.” She nodded and continued to play on the floor.

Keith left in search of Lance and he found him in the control room fussing over a holographic map. Keith wasn’t sure what he was looking for among the coordinates, but his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, and in the light of the hologram, Keith could see the scar under his eye.

He looked so serious and pensive…. There was stubble on his chin and Keith could actually hear the scratch sound it made when Lance scraped his fingernails over it. It made him shudder. Not to mention, he’d just showered so instead of hair being gelled over like he’d taken to doing in the recent years, it fell limp in front of his eyes and the look was so sexy Keith had to take a breath to calm himself down.

That was another thing. His sex drive had gone through the roof halfway through the third month. But he didn’t have the confidence to do anything about it which ended up making him cry out of embarrassment or get angry because of the frustration. He hadn’t told Lance, because he knew Lance would simply assure him he was still beautiful and try to fuck him, but Keith wouldn’t feel sexy and he wouldn’t enjoy it anyway because he had a bulging stomach and that was gross.

“Keith?” He jumped at the sound of his name and the hologram was swept to one side as Lance noticed him. “Hey _gatito,_ what’s up?” he asked with a smile.

Keith bit his lip and forced his hormones to calm the fuck down. He was a grown man for crying out loud. He walked up to Lance and Lance’s hands immediately rested on his stomach, fingers scratching gently to rub his belly. Keith interlaced his hands over his shoulders and kissed him lightly. “Violet just told me I was fat.” Lance snorted before he could stop himself, and he covered his mouth, looking at Keith wide-eyed. Keith knew he was waiting to see if he would start crying or yelling. But Keith just bit back a smile. “I was thinking… that we should tell her tonight.”

“Yeah?” Lance asked with a smile. Keith nodded and he pulled Keith into a hug, burrowing his face in Keith’s neck which just made Keith have to fight off another heat wave. “I’ve been waiting for this day, oh my God. She’s going to be so excited.”

“Pidge is actually supposed to help Allura with a check up today, so…. Maybe we could take her? Or get like a picture and tell her when we put her to bed.”

“I like the second idea. I kind of want it to be just us with her, you know?” Keith nodded and kissed Lance again. “I love you, _mi rey.”_

“I love you more,” he whispered, with a smile.

\--

Later that night, after Keith had gone to his checkup and Pidge had assured him the babies were fine, Keith and Lance went to get Violet from the kitchen where she was watching Hunk experiment with a new dessert for them to eat in the morning.

“Come on, _princesita,_ it’s bedtime.”

Violet hopped off the chair and hugged Hunk’s leg. “G’night uncle Hunk,” she said. “I can’t wait to eat that tomorrow!” Hunk chuckled and watched her bound off to her fathers.

Keith tucked her into bed after Lance braided her hair and they smiled at each other. “Hey, Vi?” Keith murmured. She hummed, hugging her purple stuffed lion and rubbing her eyes. “Do you still want a little sibling?”

She opened her eyes and tilted her head. “Like a little sister?” she questioned. Keith nodded. “Yeah. But I know you can’t because it’s scary right now. But Daddy?” Keith hummed with a smile. “If there’s a war, how come you had me?” Keith’s smile fell and he looked up at Lance.

Lance held his gaze for a moment before taking his hand. “Well, _mi niña,_ that’s a long story. You see me and Daddy didn’t know we were gonna have you. And when we found out, we got really excited. We knew you’d be strong and brave enough even with a war. We were still a little scared, but look at you. You’re the bravest little girl in the whole universe.” She smiled and threw a hand over Lance’s lap.

Even after seven years of parenting, Lance was still better at breaking down and communicating the more difficult topics. “In fact, we have a little surprise for you,” Keith whispered, afraid to talk much louder. He felt emotional again. He knew that one day Violet would be old enough to understand that she was different in more ways than one. That the fact that she’d come from him and Lance wasn’t exactly normal, that they’d been young when they had her, and it had in fact been an accident. Keith feared the day she would piece it together.

“What is it?” she asked, sitting up halfway.

Keith looked at Lance and nodded. “Well, your daddy looks like he’s been getting fat because there’s babies in his stomach,” he said with a smile.

“Babies?” Violet shrieked, sitting up completely. “Like, more than one?”

Keith smiled at the excitement in her eyes. “Yeah,” he laughed. “There’s two. They’re gonna be twins, and they’re gonna be here real soon. Five more months.” Violet squealed and covered her mouth as she kicked at her covers.

“Can I see?” she asked.

“Well, you can’t see them yet,” Lance said. “But we do know about how big they are. Look.” Lance pulled out what resembled a sonogram pictures. “See? They’re just sleeping in there, cuddled up together. Here’s one, and here’s the other.” Violet’s mouth fell open and she grabbed the picture with nervous little hands. “Look, touch how hard Daddy’s tummy is,” he murmured, taking her hand and pressing it to Keith’s stomach.

“Oh!” Violet looked at Keith, nervous that she’d hurt him, but Keith just smiled at her and nodded. “Can they hear me?”

Keith nodded. “They should be able to now,” he said.

Violet crept closer and splayed her small hand out on his stomach. “Hi, little babies! I’m your big sister! You should come out faster so I can see you.” Keith laughed and touched her cheek lightly. “I’m gonna be the best big sister ever, and I’m gonna take care of you all the time,” she whispered. “Goodnight, little babies.” She kissed his stomach lightly and hugged him gently. “Thank you, Daddy.”

Keith chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Violet. Now go to sleep, okay?”

She nodded and laid back down. “Hey, Daddy?” Keith hummed as he got up and took Lance’s hand. “How did they get in your tummy?”

Keith looked at Lance who looked just as panicked as he did. “That’s… a conversation for another day, pumpkin. Just go to bed, okay?” She grumbled but was quick to smile again as she shut her eyes.

Keith and Lance left her room and stifled their laughter as they returned to their room.

Keith got ready for bed, wearing his boxers and one of Hunk’s old shirts. Hunk had given them to him once Keith found he wasn’t able to sleep comfortably in his own, and they didn’t exactly have pregnancy clothes stores at the Space Mall.

Lance slept in his boxers and deemed it enough as he wrapped his arms around Keith. His hands rubbed Keith’s stomach idly as he began to fall asleep, but Keith couldn’t fall asleep.

He was completely pressed against Lance, encased in his warmth, in his scent, in his touch. And it was making him hyperaware. He tried to stay still so he wouldn’t feel more than he already did, but he was struggling to catch his breath and fall asleep.

Somehow he managed to. But his dreams were filled memories of fervid nights spent tangled up with Lance and Keith hadn’t realized how much he was thrashing until Lance shook him awake. He looked disheveled and his gaze was heated and curious.

“What?” Keith asked breathlessly.

“Are you okay?” Keith licked his lips and held back the tears of frustration that were burning his eyes. “Keith. You were dreaming something… intense.”

“I know,” he moaned. “Why’d you wake me up?”

Lance raised an eyebrow and caught a runaway tear in his thumb. “Are you crying because I woke you up from your dream?” He nodded, his lower lip quivering. “But I’m right here. I can make you feel it all for real.” Keith shook his head. “No? Why?” Lance pressed gentle kisses to his cheeks and let out a soft, warm breath against his throat.

“Because I look gross,” Keith whined, out of annoyance and arousal. “I’m all swollen with babies and it’s weird. And I know you’re going to say you don’t care, but I do. I feel gross, and I’m going to look weird trying anything with you with this fucking bulge between us.” He felt more tears slip out and covered his face.

Lance took his hands gently and pried them away. He was smiling. “You know me so well,” he chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind. Because I don’t think it’s gross. I love looking at you when you’re pregnant. I love knowing I did that with you.”

“You’re so fucking weird,” Keith grumbled sighing at the lips mouthing at his neck. “Only you would be able to get off to a fucking swollen belly filled with babies.”

“Well, when you say it like that,” Lance laughed. Keith groaned and pushed him back. “Hey, you’re obviously really pent up if the noises you were making say anything.” Keith blushed and turned away. “I’ll make you feel good, baby. You won’t even have to think about your stomach. Just close your eyes when I tell you to and keep them on mine when I tell you to. You wanna try that?” Keith hesitated and looked down at his stomach. “Ah, ah. Eyes on me,” he whispered. Lance’s hand fell to his boxers, going up the leg. He pressed his fingers against Keith, making him stifle a sharp gasp. “Jesus, you’re soaking,” Lance groaned. “Don’t you want me to help you? You’re my husband after all….”

“Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Keith gasped, pushing his hips down. “Please, please, Lance. I’m going fucking crazy.” Lance smirked and kissed him, leaning over him.

He tugged the boxers away and Keith gulped. “Eyes on me,” Lance reminded him gently.

Keith did as he was told. He shut his eyes when Lance shuffled down to spread his legs and mouth at whatever the hell was down there. He focused on the grip Lance’s hands had on his and the feelings coursing through his body, making him shiver and moan. And he kept his eyes on him when Lance draped over him, holding the headboard to hold himself a little higher and as he began to push into him. Keith had been so completely overwhelmed and touch starved that it was surprisingly easy to forget why he had been embarrassed to ask for this before. He just knew he was surrounded by Lance and all he was aware of were blue eyes and light caresses and soft bilingual whispers interrupted by passionate grunts and moans.

Keith felt like every knot in his body had been untied by the time Lance cleaned him up and laid beside him, pressing soft kisses to his shoulder.

“You made me come like five times, Lance what the fuck,” Keith breathed, keeping his eyes shut because he was still tingling and he was so sleepy and Lance was so warm.

Lance chuckled and pressed his body closer. “You’re so sensitive,” he whispered. “How long were you keeping this from me?”

“A few weeks,” he mumbled. “Little over a month.”

“Jesus.” Keith grumbled again and turned on his side so he faced Lance. “There’s nothing wrong with sex while pregnant, Keith. I’ve heard it’s actually healthy.”

“From who?”

“Pidge.” Keith groaned and buried his face into a pillow. Lance laughed and pressed a kiss to his nose. “You don’t have to be embarrassed with me, baby. I’m your husband.”

Keith hummed, talking through his sleep haze. “I just… I want to fuck you all the time, and I feel so weird about it. But God, that was so oh my God.” Lance chuckled again and laid an arm over him.

“Well, you’re lucky because I love you so much and I kind of want to fuck you all the time too, so….” Keith opened one eye and saw Lance smiling at him with the most heart melting look in his eyes. “Go to sleep,” he whispered. It wasn’t that hard to do exactly that.

\--

A couple days later, as Keith munched on some leftovers from dinner the day before and Violet talked to his stomach, Keith felt a hard and sudden kick against his stomach.

He jolted upright and Violet looked at him with wide eyes. “What happened, Daddy?”

Keith frowned and ran his hand over his stomach. He’d felt them wiggling around, but he had yet to feel them actually kick at him. He wasn’t sure if that’s what that had been or not. “Nothing, love.”

She frowned and decided to stay away from his stomach for a while. She sat down near the table and began to doodle. Ever since she found out, she’d given Keith and Lance countless drawings of their growing family. Keith laid on the couch and yawned, ready to fall asleep when he heard a siren go off.

Violet gasped and stood immediately, grabbing her father’s hand.

Keith felt himself tense, but he struggled to remain passive to keep his daughter calm. They made their way to the hangar where Lance was suited up and sheathing his bayard.

“I love you,” he told Keith, pressing a kiss to his lip. He knelt down and hugged Violet tightly. “Take care of Daddy, okay? You know how worried he gets.” She nodded, her face resolute and so similar to Keith’s Lance couldn’t help but smile. He touched Keith’s stomach and kissed it lightly. “Be good for your dad, _tesoritos.”_ Then, before Shiro could call for him to hurry, he turned away and got into his lion.

Keith hated the feeling of watching him leave. Violet took his hand and tugged him back. They joined Coran in the control room. Violet sat beside her godfather, eyes on the screen in front of them, showing her the layout of the battle about to begin. Keith paced behind them and tried not to panic.

When he’d been pregnant with Violet, he didn’t struggle so much to keep himself together. He was tense, yes, and afraid. But he’d never hyperventilated and cried and shook the way he had with the twins. Violet understood why Keith had begun doing that now, but Keith still felt like a horrible dad when he had to get comforted by his seven year old child.

He was keeping a similar panic attack at bay as he paced, and Violet stole glances at him now and then.

Violet suddenly shrieked, “ _Papi, cuidado!”_ and she was up, hauling Keith toward the door. Keith felt a shudder go through the castle and he pulled himself away from Violet, anxious to see the screen and what had happened.

“No, Daddy! Don’t, just come with me.”

She tugged on him, tugged his shirt hard enough to make him wince, but he ignored it and went to the screen. “Coran?” Coran looked like he didn’t want to talk, and there was a flurry of exchanges on the comm. “ _Coran.”_

“Red took a hit,” he said, refusing to look away from the screen. Keith noticed he refrained from saying Lance. “He’s fine, he’s on the comm. You should go with Violet.”

“You have to tell them to fall back,” Keith protested. “Tell them to come back!”

“This fleet came to us. If they come back, they attack the castle. That means Violet and the twins. They’ll be fine. I’ll help.”

Keith wanted to protest again, but Violet was tugging on him again and he finally followed her out and to her room. She laid beside him, and Keith could see that she was afraid. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as he could, murmuring soft prayers under his breath. Lance had taught a few to Violet, and though Keith had never really been religious, he couldn’t help but pray for Lance each time he had to leave. Violet joined in after a few moments and he noticed that she visibly calmed down.

If only it were that easy for Keith too.

Countless minutes or hours or days later- at least that’s what it felt like- the door opened and Coran informed them of the team’s arrival. Violet took her father’s hand and they rushed to the hangar. Keith felt his stomach twist when Hunk and Pidge were pulling Lance out of Red and dragging him out of the hangar.

“-have to… see him.”

“Lance? Lance!” Keith rushed forward and noticed Lance struggling to move. “What happened?”

“He got hurt, we need to get him to the pod, fast!” Pidge said. “I’m sorry, Keith, but we have to hurry.” They walked past him and Keith couldn’t help the panic settling in him, making him crumble to the floor. Even with Violet crying beside him, he couldn’t find it in him to put on a brave face for her.

Shiro and Allura came up beside him and Shiro managed to calm him down enough to stand. “Come on, buddy. You can’t stress this much, it’s not good for the babies. You’re scaring Violet.”

“Lance is- what happened- he’s- why is he-?”

“Red took a hit so Lance was on foot while she rebooted,” Allura said gently. “He got hit by a blaster, and Red scooped him up before he could get surrounded. He’s going to be fine, Keith.”

He tried to nod. He tried to remember that they’d all gone through worse injuries and made it out alive. But he felt dizzy and he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t stop shaking.

Shiro and Allura led him and Violet to the healing pods where Pidge was scanning his injuries and Hunk was looking worriedly at an unconscious Lance inside a pod. Keith hated seeing him like that. He couldn’t stop thinking about how similar he looked to the time he’d almost died. The idea made him short of breath again and he sat down on a chair that Allura had brought in for him.

Violet crawled into his lap, careful of his stomach and hugged him lightly. Her purple eyes were watery and her ears kept flicking nervously. Keith had no idea what he would do if something happened to Lance.

\--

He drifted in and out of fitful sleep. Violet had fallen asleep quickly, quivering now and then with shaking breaths. Shiro took her and put her to bed for Keith while he waited for updates on Lance.

He felt someone’s hand on his and he blinked sleepily. His eyes locked with ocean blue ones and he sat up with a gasp, only for Lance to put his hands on his shoulders and shush him.

“It’s okay, baby. Calm down, I’m okay.”

“You scared the hell out of me,” Keith breathed. “Oh my God.” He wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly, promising himself to never let him go again. Until he was perfectly able to protect and defend Lance himself, he would remain safe in his arms.

His hands rubbed up and down his back soothingly. “I’m okay, _corazón._ I’m right here.”

“I know, but-” He cut off as he felt another swift kick. Then another. “Ow. Oh my God. Lance.” He took his hand and pressed it lightly into the side of his stomach. Soon another kick made the skin jump and Lance let out a breathy laugh.

“H-hey, baby,” he murmured, leaning down to his stomach. “Papito’s okay.” Another few kicks, these a little quicker and in different parts. Lance laughed and pressed several little kisses to his stomach shushing the babies. “Easy there, _tesoritos._ Daddy doesn’t like the kicking.”

“If it’s because you’re okay, I don’t care,” Keith answered, tilting Lance’s face up. He leaned down and kissed him, and it wasn’t until their lips touched that Keith’s tension went away and he was able to feel like he could breathe again. The babies started moving more, distracting Keith and making him wince. “Ouch, okay, okay,” he laughed. Lance chuckled and ran his hands soothingly over Keith’s stomach. “Oh, Violet’s gonna be so excited to feel them.”

“Why don’t you get to bed? I’m gonna go wake Violet so she knows I’m okay.” Keith nodded and pushed himself up. He walked with Lance until they reach their room. Then Lance kissed him and kept walking to Violet’s. Keith went into his room and changed into an oversized shirt before crawling into bed. The kicks had let up to an occasional bump.

A few moments later, the door opened and he felt Lance’s hands wrap around his belly and his lips brushed long his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” Keith breathed, pressing closer to him, comforted by the heat of his presence.

\--

The next day, Violet came into their room and snuggled herself between her parents. Keith figured everyone was awake, but he and Lance decided to stay in bed a little longer after the scare from the night before.

“Hey, princess,” Keith murmured sleepily. “How’d you sleep?”

“Okay,” she said, poking Keith’s belly. “Hello, babies.”

Keith smiled and took her hand. “Wanna feel something cool?” he yawned. She nodded and he took her hand, pressing it to the side that he felt the kicks more often. “Wait for it,” he whispered.

He glance over where Lance was looking at him with a sleepy smile. Lance’s fingers raked gently through his hair and Keith felt warm and safe with his family in bed.

Suddenly Violet gasped and pulled her hand back. “What was that?” she asked.

“That was your baby sister or brother,” Lance told her, smiling down at her. “They’ve got their legs and arms and they’re moving around for more room. And they like hearing us talk.”

Violet cooed and put her hand back. “Hi, babies. I’m your big sister.” She looked up at Keith. “Did I move too?”

“Mmhmm. All the time,” Keith chuckled. “Especially when Papa came back from missions. You’d kick me like crazy.” She giggled and squealed when one of the babies kicked at her hand, making Keith wince slightly.

“Hey, _princesa._ ” Violet looked over at Lance, her hand firm on Keith’s stomach. “I wanted to tell you that I’m really proud of you for being brave yesterday. For helping Daddy. Your Nino said you were very good.” She blushed and looked away, rubbing the hard expanse of Keith’s stomach. “I mean it,” Lance said. “I’m really proud of you.”

“But I wasn’t brave,” she said softly. “I was still scared.”

Keith scratched behind her ear and smiled. “That doesn’t mean you weren’t brave, love.”

“It actually means that you were. You can’t be brave if you’re not afraid or scared. But it’s because you fought the fear and did your best to help Daddy and your little siblings that you were brave.”

“Bravest little girl in the universe,” Keith agreed. She smiled and hugged them each in turn. “I love you, Violet.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

\--

It wasn’t the last time that a mission had taken Lance away. And it wasn’t the last time that Keith struggled to hold himself together. But he’d already been warned about the stress hurting the babies, half-Galra or not. Keith began secluding himself in his room while Violet helped Coran in the control room.

He was impressed to find that Violet had a very good eye for attacks that had yet to happen. And she often shouted out a warning or command that Coran would end up repeating a few seconds later. But her excellent eye also gave Keith anxiety, so he’d assured her she was fine to help Coran while he tried to keep himself calm in the room.

He’d tried doing what Lance did when he wanted to calm Keith down, which was singing softly under his breath. It managed to keep him distracted which minimized his stress even if it didn’t go away completely.

His stomach continued to grow, and he was certain it was larger than it had been with Violet. Thankfully, the kicking wasn’t unbearable, but the more he went along, the more exhausted and pained he felt.

His feet were swollen, so he usually walked around in socks. His back always ached, so he tried to lay down whenever he could. And he had to pee every. Five. Minutes. He was always sleepy and if he wasn’t, then he was ravenously hungry. But if anyone commented on it, he’d snap by either breaking into tears or yelling at whoever had spoken. Hell, he even struggled to sleep comfortably if he didn’t get the relief of an orgasm before falling asleep as bizarre as that sounded to him.

He wanted these little parasites out of him already.

One afternoon, during one of his many naps, Keith felt a pair of hands shaking him gently.

“ _Mi amor. Cielo._ Keith.” He grunted and pulled the covers higher on him. “We’ve got another checkup.”

“It can wait, they’re like down the hall,” he mumbled back, wanting desperately to fall asleep.

“You want me to carry you?” Keith scowled and opened his eyes to look at Lance. The gentle look in those blue eyes made his scowl go away. Even in this cranky, blown up, sloppy state of too-pregnant and half-asleep, Lance looked at him like he was the most beautiful person in the entire fucking universe. He fully intended to carry Keith if he needed it. And Keith loved him so much for it.

He sighed and struggled to pull himself into a sitting position. Lance helped him with a hand at his back and took his hand to pull him up from the bed. He placed a kiss on Keith’s forehead and smiled at him. “You okay?”

Keith yawned and nodded. “Just really tired of being pregnant.” Lance laughed and let Keith set the pace as they walked to the lab.

Allura was sitting with Pidge and Hunk, talking happily, and she perked up when she saw Keith come in. “There they are! How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” he answered. “How many more checkups?”

“This should be the last one. Violet was born around eight months, right?” Keith nodded. “Well, this one’s already at nine, so they should be arriving any day now.” Keith frowned at that. He’d already passed the nine month mark? How much longer before he went into labor? “Come sit. Pidge will help with the sensors.”

Keith sat down, leaning against Lance as Pidge placed the sensors along his belly and the heartbeat at his wrist. “What’s the average Galra pregnancy?” he asked her.

“Based on what I found, it’s about seven to nine months, pretty similar to humans. But it’s actually safe if they only make it to six months. Nine is late.” She smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because they should’ve been born already. Even if you average it out, I’ve already been carrying them too long.”

She smiled reassuringly and nodded. “Yeah, I mentioned it, but Hunk doesn’t think we should risk inducing you. If you get too close to ten months, we’ll talk about it more. But the original due date Allura estimated was only two days ago.” Keith huffed and nodded, leaning into Lance.

“What’s the risk with inducement? They do it all the time on Earth,” Lance said, wrapping his arm around Keith.

“Well, the inducement medicine is Altean and it’s significantly stronger than anything back home. I’m not sure of the effects it would have on Keith or the twins. Also, their last check up, the twins still hadn’t turned head-down. If we induce them, the actual giving birth part would get… really, really complicated.”

Keith sighed and looked at Lance worriedly. They’d already come so far. They couldn’t take risks. Lance just nodded and squeezed Keith’s shoulder gently.

“Well, the good news is that they’re both starting to flip,” Allura interrupted.

“What’s the bad news?”

She tilted her head and bit her lip. “I can’t tell how long it’ll be before they’re both safely ready for inducement if it comes down to that.”

“We can cross that bridge when we get to it,” Lance assured, holding Keith a little tighter.

Hunk smiled and held up the printed pictures of the graph. “Are you sure you don’t want to know the sexes?”

“Positive. We’re already trying to get Violet to understand they might not both be girls like she wants.” Hunk snorted and stashed the pictures away safely in a folder. Keith looked down at his stomach then over at Lance. “What are we supposed to do if you’re all out for a mission?” he asked. “The last time… I was lucky and you were all on your way back. Coran has to help you and if I-”

“Easy there, Keith,” Allura said calmly. “We’ve already set you as a priority. If we aren’t all here, Coran should focus on you and the babies.”

“Besides, Violet would probably be able to take over. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard her shout a warning before Coran,” Hunk said with a chuckle.

Keith yawned again and Lance pushed his hair away from his face. “Let’s get you back to bed,” he murmured. “Thank you guys so much.” The three nodded and Lance helped Keith up. They shuffled back to their room and Lance helped Keith lay back. “Just the walk and the sitting made your feet swell up again.” Keith grimaced and tucked his feet under the covers. “Why don’t you let me give you a foot rub? My mom used to make my dad do it each time she got pregnant.”

“Because feet are weird. I don’t like touching my own feet, why would I let someone else do it?” He wiggled his toes and blushed. “Plus I’m really ticklish at my feet.”

Lance smirked and squeezed his thigh. “Well, I’m actually really good at foot rubs. It won’t tickle. And I can help the pain ebb a little.” He took Keith’s hand and tilted his head. “Can I at least try?”

Keith hesitated. He’d never had a foot rub, and he never wanted to. But his feet were pulsing from the swelling and the soreness was spreading up his calves. He nodded and put his feet in Lance’s lap. As his hands wrapped around them, Keith winced and bit his lip, tensing. But Lance knew what he was doing. The pressure was enough so it didn’t tickle, and Keith let out a low breath of relief as some of the tension eased.

After a few seconds, Keith put his arms behind his head and looked at Lance. “Hey, Lance?” Lance hummed and looked up at Keith. “What are we supposed to do when this war is over? How is Violet supposed to go to school with her ears? And your family… how are you going to explain all of this to them?” Keith asked, gesturing to his swollen belly.

Lance bit his lip and frowned. “Yeah, I’ve thought about that. I don’t really know how my family will take it. But even if they don’t like it…. Keith, you and Violet and these lazy little munchkins are my family. My husband and my children. And I’ll defend you all to the ends of the universe. As for the kids going to school and living on Earth…. I really don’t know. I don’t want Violet to be ashamed of any part of her. And I don’t know how much these two will show in Galra traits. I don’t know. I guess we’ll….”

Keith sighed and tilted his head. “Cross that bridge when we come to it?” Lance looked at him and chuckled softly. “If we come to it,” he added. “This war’s been going on for a long time, and I don’t see an end anytime soon.”

“It’s been long because we didn’t always have Voltron. Now we do. We just need a good way in.” Keith didn’t respond. He knew Lance wanted to go home. To see the beaches again and the sunrises and sunsets. He wanted human foods and he wanted to see his family again. Lance needed to believe they would live to see the end of the war.

So he didn’t say anything and simply closed his eyes.

When Lance had moved to the next foot, they heard a knock on the door and Keith called for whoever it was to come in. He was surprised to see Shiro with a bag in hand. “I got the kids something! They’re unisex too.” He handed Keith the bag and knelt down beside the bed. “I know we couldn’t plan a baby shower this time, but I still wanted to get you something. And when I saw these, I just knew you’d love it.”

Keith sat up and Shiro placed a few pillows behind him to help prop him up. Lance tilted his head trying to get a glimpse of the bag’s contents. Keith reached in and felt a couple of hangers. He pulled them out and started laughing when he saw the onesies. They were for a one year old, which Keith figured was best. Violet had grown out of her clothes quickly until she turned a year.

One was gray with a kind looking shark face on the hoodie. It even had a dorsal fin on top. He handed it over to Lance who lit up immediately. The other was a dark magenta colored hippo with round little ears on top.

“These are so cute!” he laughed delightedly. “Where did you find them?”

“The space mall recently added an Earth-based store. Earth styles and stuff. Even so, these were the most normal things I could find. Oh, and a few pacifiers too. They’re in there,” Shiro said. He pulled out a pack of pacifiers, each with some sort of attempted depiction of animals. “Coran bought more of the newborn stuff, but he’s got it stored away to not give away the sexes.”

“These are great, Shiro. Thank you.”

“Yeah. Now if only these kids would come out already,” Keith grumbled.

Lance leaned forward and placed his hands on Keith’s stomach. “You hear that kiddos? Daddy wants you out of there. It’s your eviction notice. Time to get out now!” Keith laughed as Lance kissed his stomach and then blushed when he remembered Shiro was still in the room, kneeling beside him.

But Shiro looked content. He was looking at the scene fondly, and he gave Keith a little smirk. “I remember when you were both constantly fighting. I never thought I’d see you two like this.”

“Honestly, Shiro, I don’t think I ever expected to see myself like this either,” he said gesturing to his stomach. Lance was still cooing at it and Keith tilted his head as he watched.

Shiro laughed and ruffled his hair. “I’ll let you get some rest. Violet’s hanging out with Pidge in the hangar, by the way. She’s learning how the lions work.”

“When she’s done there, send her my way. I want to keep training her in the shooting range.” Keith raised an eyebrow and Lance stared at him. “What? I claimed Violet as the one to carry on my legacy as sharpshooter. You can make these two your own little knife-wielding demons.”

Keith glared at him, but Lance simply pulled the blanket over him, put a pillow on his side to help support the weight, and kissed his forehead. “Wake me for dinner,” he mumbled.

“Of course,” he chuckled. Then he left the room with Shiro and Keith tried to ignore the kicks and prods the twins were giving him in hopes of decent sleep.  


	4. Chapter 4

“You’re being unreasonable.”

Keith shot a his husband a killer glare and grit his teeth. He was positive he looked feral, and that was fine by him.

“Keith, you can’t just stay in the room! You have to walk around and, you know socialize with us and your daughter!”

“Not until these two are out of me,” Keith snapped. “I’m exhausted all the time, I’m heavy, everything hurts, and I know how fucking huge my stomach looks. I’m verging on ten months, Lance, this is insane!”

Lance sighed and reached forward to placate him, but Keith snatched away. “Baby, we’re all used to this, you don’t have to feel emba-”

“I’m not embarrassed!” he shouted. “I’m tired! I’m not leaving this room unless it’s to give birth to these lazy little kids that seem to enjoy sucking the life out of me.” Lance frowned and crossed his arms. “I can’t even sleep, Lance.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” he muttered. Keith rolled his eyes. “Alright, you want to stay in here, fine. Try to get some rest. I’ll bring you some food.”

Keith grumbled and leaned back against the pile of pillows that helped him sit up.

Meanwhile, Lance left and put his hand to his forehead fighting back the headache he could feel coming on. Keith hadn’t been this moody when he was pregnant with Violet. But ever since he reached his ninth month, he’d been nothing but grouchy. Lance understood it on one hand. He had two babies in him, kicking and making him pee every five minutes. But he also seemed so discontent with the whole thing that it made Lance a little nervous.

He walked into the dining hall and saw Violet coloring on the table, munching on cookies. “Hey _princesita._ What are you coloring?”

“Welcome posters for my baby sisters.”

“What if they’re not both girls?” Violet snorted like Lance had said a funny joke. “Well, do you wanna come to the training room with me?”

She perked up and hopped off the chair, immediately taking his hand. Lance ruffled her hair and they walked together to the training room. “Did Daddy get mad at you again?” she asked.

“What?”

“You only come here when it’s nighttime or if you and Daddy got mad.”

Lance frowned and squeezed her hand lightly. “You’re disturbingly observant for a seven year old.” She smiled widely, taking the comment as a compliment. “Don’t worry. Daddy’s just tired so he gets mad easily.”

“I know. That’s what you always say.” Lance chuckled and watched her as she pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail and grabbed the small gun which worked as a laser pointer, thanks to Hunk’s engineering. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Lance nodded and grabbed the large spheres that were programmed to change color when the laser hit them. Violet took her stance and Lance began to toss the balls up in pairs, watching proudly as Violet narrowed her focus and aimed quickly. By the time she was done, fifteen of the twenty spheres were a different color.

“Nice job, kiddo!” Lance said, impressed with the number.

“I’m missing five,” she muttered. “I never get them all.”

Lance knelt down to look her in the eyes and sighed. “You’re just like your dad. Always beating yourself up. Vi, you’re seven years old and you have better aim than I did when I was seventeen. I had to train a lot to get where you are now. You did a great job. Don’t put yourself down.”

She sighed and nodded, giving him a smile. Lance cupped her cheek and smiled, feeling the pride spread in his chest. Sometimes he still couldn’t believe he’d had a daughter. But there she was, sharing his skin and his freckles and curly brown hair. There she was with Keith’s angled, indigo eyes and small nose and determined expression. Beautiful and small and incredible. For Lance and Keith to protect and love for the rest of their lives.

“Alright, _preciosa,_ let’s try some hand to hand, okay?” She nodded and started stretching as Lance set up the training sequence.

\--

Later that day, while Violet played with the mice, Lance decided to lay down on the couch and shut his eyes for a quick second.

He hadn’t expected Pidge to sit on him and knock the wind right out of him.

“Pidge, what the fuck?” he groaned.

“Keith not letting you sleep?” Lance groaned again and threw his arm over his eyes. “Look, the inducement didn’t work because Keith’s Galra blood was too strong, but you know there’s natural ways to do it too.”

“I know that. What, like walking and eating spicy food and whatnot, right? Keith doesn’t want to get up and there’s no way to get actual spicy food here. Trust me I’ve been missing salsa for years now.”

“Have you tried sex? It’s not a certain thing, but it can help sometimes, both to make the labor easier and to just prod along the process.”

Lance moved his arm and looked at her incredulously. “Have you _met_ Keith? You think he’d let me touch him when he’s hat grumpy and swollen? He stopped letting me even cuddle him almost two months ago.”

Pidge snorted. “Seriously?” Lance nodded. “Well, it’s a thought. I think everyone’s on edge now because we’re all just waiting on him to go into labor.”

“I know. Get off, I have to take him some food before he goes all Hulk-Mega Godzilla.” Pidge laughed again and got off of him. Lance went to the kitchen to heat up some dinner from the night before. He went to the room, entering quietly in case Keith was asleep.

He was surprised to find him slouched against his pillows, face contorted as his eyes watered. “ _Mi amor, que tienes?”_ he asked softly, setting the food down on their bedside table.

Keith groaned and wiped at his eyes. “I’m just so tired already. Why can’t they just come out already? I feel so stuck and frustrated.” His hands clenched around the pillow and Lance sat beside him, rubbing his back. “I know I’m being an ass,” he muttered. “I’m just….”

“Frustrated, tired, hurting. I know, baby. Here, you need to eat.” Lance gave him the plate and Keith used his stomach as a table, resting the plate there as he started eating. “I took Violet training again. She got fifteen of the twenty balls this time.”

“Seriously?” Keith asked in surprise. “She’s seven, how is she that good?”

“Well, with my skill and your stubborn determination in her blood, she had to be a prodigy.” Keith smiled and nodded. “But of course, like you, she felt like that wasn’t good enough yet.”

Keith snorted. “Like me? What are you talking about? You’re the one who was always pushing himself to be better even when you had military sniper skills 17 years of age.” He burped and covered his mouth. “She got that from you.”

Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head. As Keith continued to eat, Lance took the opportunity to talk to the twins. He rubbed Keith’s stomach soothingly and hummed a lullaby for the twins until Keith was done eating and insisted on taking a nap. Lance fixed his pillows, kissed his forehead, and left the room.

Keith stayed in the room for another two days. He was in and out of sleep, he ate when Lance brought him food, talked with Violet before she went to bed, and woke Lance through the night to help him go to the bathroom. His feet were swollen to the point where he couldn’t wear his shoes, and his stomach hung low and big. The lack of exercise had also made the walk to and from the bathroom an exhausting task for Keith.

By the third day, Lance was half dragging him to the bathroom because he insisted that Keith needed a bath. He had to help him even offering him a chair to sit on so he wouldn’t have to be on his feet long. Lance helped him dress and then laid him back down.

As he covered him up, Keith looked up at him with those wonderful violet eyes and a soft smile. “What?” he asked, pushing his dark hair back.

Keith hummed and took his hand. “You’re such a good husband,” he whispered. “I love you so much.”

Lance smiled and leaned down to kiss him. “I love you too. _Eres mi sol, mi luna, y mis estrellas.”_ Keith smiled and blushed, tilting Lance’s chin toward him until their lips met and kissed him softly.

Lance deepened the kiss, carefully wrapping his arms around Keith, letting his hands slide into his hair and tugging softly at the roots, making Keith groan quietly. But as he slid one hand down his side and along the inside of his thigh, Keith pulled away and glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He laughed and shook his head, feeling sheepish. “I know, I know. You think you’re gross and don’t want to do anything.” He pecked his cheek and pulled away, turning to change into his own PJs. “Pidge had mentioned sex being helpful in natural inducement of labor, but I know you don’t want to do anything. I was caught up in the moment.

He searched for his pants and as he moved to put them on, he heard Keith say, “Lance Charles McClain, you keep those pajama pants off and get your ass over here.”

Looking at him with raised eyebrows, Lance obeyed and sat by him. “If having sex is going to make these two get out of my body quicker, then my self-consciousness can go fuck itself while you fuck me.”

Lance burst into laughter, but quickly quieted at Keith unamused expression. He took Keith’s hand and intertwined their fingers. “I don’t think it works if you’re angry. You need to relax.” Keith huffed and Lance took him gently by the shoulders. “Come here, baby.”

He turned Keith until he was able to softly massage at the knots in his neck. Keith let his head loll forward and sighed, his shoulders unhunching as Lance dug his fingers into his pale, scarred skin. He kneaded at the muscles for a few minutes before he leaned down to kiss his neck.

Keith let out a quivering breath and Lance smiled. He loved how sensitive Keith was when he was pregnant. The lightest touch made him squirm.

It was a little difficult finding a comfortable enough position for Keith, but despite the embarrassment reddening his cheeks, he opened up to Lance easily. The first time Lance had seen the change in Keith’s body, he had figured it had something to do with Keith being half-Galra. He thought Keith knew about it, and he’d just been embarrassed to mention it. Lance had seen how much more sensitive that part of him had been, how it seemed self-lubricating and therefore easier to please him. He hadn’t thought much more of it. In his defense lots of weirder things had happened in his life for him to ponder about hormonally triggered genitalia.

By now, Lance knew Keith’s body better than his own, and once Keith was comfortable, it had been easier to bring him to the edge. He was so sensitive all over, shivering and clawing at the sheets, murmuring his name.

When they were finished, Lance cleaned him up and redressed him, getting dressed himself before cuddling up behind him and throwing an arm over his side. He kissed his shoulder and sighed, humming softly until Keith fell asleep.

Just as he began to fall into a deep sleep, he felt Keith shaking him awake. Lance opened his eyes tiredly, ready to help Keith to the bathroom again when his brain processed the words.

“ _Lance,_ get up. I think it worked. Ow, ow, ow.” Lance sat up and rubbed his face, confused and tired. “Lance, I think they’re coming now.”

“Wha-?”

“ _Lance, the twins, dammit!”_ Keith hissed, face contorting.

Lance’s brain finally caught up and he stood up. “Oh shit! Okay, okay, hold on. Come on, hold onto me.” Keith threw his arm around Lance’s shoulders and leaned against him. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Come on.”

“Okay, that one passed,” Keith grunted. “Go, before the next one.” Lance nodded and helped him out of the room, managing to the next door before he stopped walking and slouched against Lance, gritting his teeth. “ _Oh-ow-ow!”_

“Hunk! Hunk, wake up!” Lance shouted, banging on the door.

“Lance, what- oh my God. It’s happening?”

“Yes, I need you to get Coran and Allura. Tell Pidge and Shiro to stay with Violet.” Hunk nodded and hurried down the hall as the next wave of pain ended and Keith gasped for breath in whimpers. “It’s alright, baby, I’ve got you. I’m here. Come on.” He dipped down and pulled Keith up, bridal style. “ _Respira, mi vida._ It’ll be okay.”

Keith clung to him as Lance carried him to the lab. Coran and Allura came in one after the other, groggy but quick to set up the space. Lance laid Keith down and held his hand, biting his lip as Keith squeezed him hard. He kissed his forehead over and over, wishing he could soothe the pain of the contraction pains he was feeling.

“Lance,” Allura said. Her eyes were intense and worried. Lance shushed Keith and reassured him before going over to her. “One of the babies is turned. The other isn’t. Trying to get them both out…. One of them could be hurt.”

Lance looked back at Keith and bit his lip. “What are the options?”

“We could take the risk. Or we can put him to sleep and try to manually take the babies out.”

“Like a C-section?” he asked. Allura looked confused. “You’re going to open him up. Surgery.”

“I supposed that’s a close description, yes.”

Lance wiped his face and ran his hand through his hair. “I…. Shit.” He turned away and went back to Keith. “Baby? Love, listen to me, okay?”

“Hurts,” he growled. “Can’t…. I-”

“Keith? Look at me, love. Breathe.”

Keith’s face contorted and he shook his head feebly. “Hurts. Can’t… think.”

His eyes fluttered tiredly, and he looked pale. “Keith? Keith! Wake up, Keith, I need you to stay with me,” Lance shouted, cupping his face. Keith’s eyes fluttered and closed. “Keith!”

“He’s still breathing,” Coran said, pushing Lance back. “Don’t jostle him too much. His heart rate is steady.”

“Why did he pass out!” Lance demanded. “What the fuck-?”

“Lance, please, calm down,” Allura said sharply. “The pain must’ve been too great, but now we don’t have a choice. We need to sedate him and take the babies out manually.”

Lance felt tears stinging his eyes, but he nodded, immediately taking his place beside Keith again. He took his limp hand and watched as Allura injected him with a translucent blue liquid. She timed the ticks then nodded at Coran.

Lance winced as Coran sliced through Keith’s skin. He looked away, whispering encouragements in Keith’s ear as he pushed his hair back. He kissed his cheek and murmured prayers under his breath.

“ _Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre-”_ The sound of sharp cries cut his prayer short and he looked over at Allura and Coran. Allura was holding a slimy little bundle in a white blanket, stained with blood. Coran was pulling the other out, quickly wrapping it, and Lance felt the tears fall down his face.

“Two boys,” Coran murmured, handing over the child in his arms.

Allura waited for him to hold him properly before handing the other over. Lance let out a soft laugh, crying as he looked down at the two baby boys in his arms. The Alteans returned to tend to Keith. Meanwhile, Lance rushed over beside Keith and set the babies down near his chest. “They have to hear your heartbeat,” he whispered shakily. “They’re boys, Keith. Two beautiful baby boys.” The babies’ cries softened as they were settled near Keith’s chest. “You’re gonna be okay, baby.” He wiped a bit of muck off one of the babies’ cheeks. “Daddy’s strong, he’ll be okay. And he’ll be so excited to see you.”

Once Keith had been cleaned and stitched up, Lance helped Allura clean the babies up and fed them. They fell asleep in a plastic bin like the ones from the hospitals on earth.

Lance walked over to Keith, comforted by the rise and fall of his chest. “You gotta wake up soon, Keith. You gotta meet them. They’re wonderful. One has black hair and the other- you won’t believe it- silver. They have my eyes. They’ve got the same ears as Violet. One of them has a purple birthmark on his shoulder. I don’t want to choose the names until you wake up. You still wanna name them after colors?” Lance chuckled and then hid his face as he felt the tears fall down his face. “Wake up, Keith. Please wake up.”

\--

A few hours later, Lance had to change the babies’ diapers. He fed them again and held them, one in each arm. They were long babies, and Lance had no doubt that they would grow taller than Violet. They had Keith’s light skin and Lance’s freckles. Lance held them carefully, kissing their foreheads and watching them sleep soundly.

Shiro came in with Violet, bringing Lance breakfast. Violet was wide eyed and worried, eyes flitting from Keith to Lance and the babies in his arms.

Violet frowned, but her expression became awe when she saw the small babies fast asleep. “These are your brothers, _princesa_. You wanna hold one?”

She nodded and held her hands out. “Here, Uncle Shiro can help show you how. Watch his head.” The white haired baby in Violet’s arms fidgeted then rested against her, quickly falling back asleep after the disturbance. Violet giggled and smiled at Lance.

“Want me to hold him so you can eat?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah. Please.” Lance handed over the darker haired boy and then stared at the food. He wasn’t hungry, but he knew he had to eat.

“Papi, what’s wrong with Daddy?” Violet asked softly.

“Nothing. He’s just really tired. I’m waiting on him to wake up.”

Violet looked over at him and Lance saw tears fill her eyes. “Is he gonna die?”

“No, Violet, of course not,” Shiro promised.

She looked up at him, then at Keith, then the baby in her arms. She shifted, trying to give the baby back to Lance. “I don’t wanna hold him anymore.” Lance wanted to reassure her, to tell her it wasn’t the baby’s fault. But he couldn’t get the words off his tongue.

Instead he watched as Violet hopped up and settled beside Keith, throwing her arm around him as she laid next to him. Lance shared a look with Shiro and tried to keep his composure. Shiro squeezed his shoulder lightly and sat beside him.

\--

It wasn’t long before Hunk and Pidge joined, helping check Keith’s vitals every half hour. Violet refused to move from his side. Coran and Allura soon deemed it long enough after the sedative to put him in a cryopod.

The group remained around him, waiting nervously. Violet held onto Coran, wiping away stray tears angrily. Then suddenly the cryopod beeped and slid open. Keith fell forward and Hunk caught him, helping him upright.

“Hey there, buddy,” he said as Keith’s eyes slowly started to flutter open. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” he croaked.

“Daddy!” Violet ran toward him, wrapping her arms around his middle, making him yelp in pain. Violet flinched back and Keith looked around in a daze.

“Easy, Violet,” Allura told her. “Your father’s still a bit sore from the surgery it took to get your brothers out.”

“Brothers?” Keith asked. His eyes searched for Lance and then fell to the bundle of blankets in his arms. He stumbled over to him and Lance immediately kissed him and handed over the babies. “What happened? Oh my God, they’re beautiful. Everything hurts.”

There was a small, relieved chuckled among them. Pidge brought in a wheelchair she’d managed to create out of a normal chair for Keith to use for the next week of recovery. He sat down, and Hunk brought him some food as Coran and Allura explained the C-section. Lance carried Violet and Shiro held the babies while Keith ate.

“Well, that explains why everything hurts,” he grumbled.

“Well, the cryopod sped up your recovery,” Allura said. “You should be feeling significantly better within the next five to ten quintants.”

“So, what are their names?” Pidge asked.

“You haven’t named them?” Keith asked Lance. He shook his head. “Well… we never really settled on anything. I’m not sure.”

“You mentioned Blue and Grey,” Lance reminded.

“Colors?” Hunk asked with a smirk.

“I thought it’d be quirky,” Keith said defensively. “But I don’t really like them.”

“Well, we can work on names later. Let’s make sure you feel better first,” Lance said, kissing his forehead.

Once Keith was done eating, he was given both babies and the others went to bed after a long, tense day. Lance rolled Keith out with Violet skipping along beside them. “I really wanted a sister,” she grumbled, looking curiously at the bundles in Keith’s arms.

“Don’t worry, Vi, you’ll get used to having brothers. Plus, that makes you my one and only _princesita.”_

Violet giggled and hopped along. “Yes, no more babies. That’s enough babies for forever,” Keith groaned.

Lance stopped at their door. “Violet, come say goodnight. I’ll tuck you in.”

“G’night, Daddy. I love you.” She kissed his cheek then looked down at the babies. “You’re both pretty cute, so I guess you’re okay. G’night little babies.” She kissed their foreheads, gasping when they cooed and smiled in their sleep. Keith smiled widely at Violet.

Lance set Keith up in their bed, helping him lean back against the pillows to keep him from hurting too much. Then he left and took Violet to bed.

Keith stared down at the baby boys between his legs, their tiny hands against their cheeks as they slept soundly. He couldn’t remember anything besides blinding pain. He remembered the fluorescent lights, the sound of Lance calling his name, and the way that blackness overcame him. The next thing he knew he was falling forward with pain shooting through his body numbly.

Yet here they were, two little babies, one with a mop of black waves and the other with glistening silver curls. Both with their eyes shut, the same pudgy, round face. It was still surreal to think that he and Lance _made_ these, that he had carried these both inside his body.

Lance came in a few moments later, and Keith sighed. “I can’t stop staring at them.”

He felt the bed dip as Lance sat with him and rested his chin on his shoulder. “We need to think of names.”

“Hm…Simon? Theodore?”

“What, we’re raising the Chipmunks?” Lance joked. Keith raised an eyebrow at him, scowling before turning back to the chubby cheeked babies. “I actually always liked Theodore. Theo for short.”

“And Charlie. I like Charlie.” Keith gently stroked back the dark hair on one baby. “What about middle names?”

“Wait, is his name Charlie or Charles, because I thought we said we weren’t naming them after us.”

“They’re just ideas right now.” Keith placed pillows around the babies like a fort. Lance grabbed a blanket from the several bags Coran had brought in from his shopping at the space mall and placed it over them. “Do you have any ideas?”

“My favorite uncle’s name is Lucas.” He leaned into Keith and kissed jaw. “Let’s see, Leo, Mateo, Peter, Oliver, Dylan-”

“I like Oliver. Ollie.” Lance hummed and slumped into the bed further. “Go to bed, baby. You had a long day.” Lance mumbled something, but before Keith could ask, he was already asleep, his cheek smothered against his hip and one arm around Keith’s back and the other shielding the twins.

Meanwhile, Keith looked at the sleeping newborns in front of him and sighed. “You both gave me a lot of trouble, you know? You’d better not even _try_ acting up when you get older. I’ll just remind you that you decided to stay an extra month in my body and that I got cut open for you. That card will never get old.” He chuckled and took each of their tiny hands in his. “We’re going to protect you with our lives, you know? And you have a very brave big sister. You’ve got a big family up here to watch out for you and love you.” Keith felt tears sting his eyes as he looked at his baby twins, looked at his husband sleeping beside him.

He’d grown up without a family. And then he’d met Shiro, and his family- though small and broken- had been good enough. Keith had lost and suffered so much growing up.

Yet here he was, with an entire family, feeling more love than he ever thought possible. He had a daughter and two sons and wonderful husband and his friends who had been through countless battles with him.

He’d given his children a good, big, full family. And they wouldn’t be abandoned or left behind. His parents weren’t around for him, but he would be for his children.

\--

After about a week and a half, the pain that had frequented Keith’s stomach faded into a faint prickling, like ants crawling over his skin. It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortable. The first day he’d been able to change himself, he was shocked to see a harsh, angry scar about two inches under his belly button, stretching horizontally, and his stomach was covered in stretch marks that looked like wrinkled tiger marks.

After a few moments of panicked staring, a tan hand had rested on his waist and Lance dipped his head down to whisper in his ear. “You know, I have a kink for badass battle scars.” Keith scoffed and tugged his shirt on, pushing Lance’s hand away. Lance grabbed his wrists and made him look him in the eyes. “Hey, don’t be ashamed of those stretch marks.”

“Lance, I’m okay,” Keith assured. “It just caught me off guard.”

Lance hummed and leaned in to kiss him when a sharp cry rang through the room, quickly followed by another. “Mm, duty calls.”

“More like doody calls,” Keith muttered. Lance laughed as he followed him, taking the silver haired baby in his arms. They’d decided on Charlie for him. Meanwhile Keith took Oliver and they began their routine of diaper changes, bottle feeding, and burping.

Keith laughed as he watched Lance blow raspberries into Charlie’s belly, and he looked down at Oliver in his arms. His eyes were just like Lance’s, bright and blue. As soon as the babies fell back asleep, Keith and Lance were cuddled up on either side of them, snoring.

The moments when they were awake meant lots of hectic running around to keep the babies from crying and setting the other off. It helped that the others didn’t mind taking the babies now and then, but the twins never stopped _crying._

It left Keith and Lance short-tempered and exhausted. Especially when the team had to leave for a battle, because the sirens left the twins screeching. That on top of the anxiety of the wellbeing of the team always had Keith in a panic by the time Lance got back.

He wished he could go to the training room and start workouts again, but whenever the babies fell asleep, Keith had to take the opportunity to fall asleep too.

He felt horrible because it even made him short tempered with Violet.

She came into the room one day just as the twins had fallen asleep, and the beginning of her question woke them up, sending them into a screeching tirade of newborn screams and pudgy red faces. Keith couldn’t remember what he’d said when he snapped at his daughter, sleep-deprived and impatient, but she’d left with tears running down her cheeks.

About another ten minutes later, once the twins had fallen asleep, Lance came into the room.

“What the hell happened with Violet?”

Keith groaned and sat up, looking over at the twins to be sure they were still asleep. “She barged in screaming when I was putting the babies to sleep, I got mad at her. I didn’t even yell at her, so don’t even try getting mad at me.”

“What did you _say?_ She wouldn’t stop crying.”

“You know how sensitive she is, Lance. I’m tired, I just want to sleep.”

“No, you need to go talk to her-”

“Jesus Christ, look, I get that she’s Daddy’s Little Princess for us, but right now-” He heard the beginning of one of the babies’ cries and tensed. “Goddammit, Lance, you woke them up _again!”_

“I get that you’re tired, Keith, but you can’t let it out on Violet.”

“I’m not!” he yelled, picking Oliver up, trying to hush him before Charlie woke up. He stuffed the pacifier back in the baby’s mouth and turned to Lance. “You get to go train, and you get to use your fucking lion, and you’re not spending all day feeding and changing and burping these two. I’m tired, and then they finally go to sleep and Violet comes in screaming-”

“Keith, what do you want from me? There’s only so many of us in this castle and I don’t have a choice!”

“ _Shut up!”_ he hissed, feeling a headache pound through his head as he heard Charlie start to whine. “Get out! Get out, go train, or whatever the hell you do, and let me put these kids to sleep!”

Lance narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. He ran his hand through his hair and scoffed as he left the room and Keith returned Oliver to the bed, shushing both of them at the same time. Slowly, their eyes fluttered shut and their breaths evened out. Keith sighed and plopped down beside them, falling asleep with a heavy feeling in his chest.

He woke up to tiny hands and sharp nails exploring his face. He opened his eyes to find bright blue ones staring back at him.

“Hey, Charlie. You up before your brother?” Keith lifted his head to find Oliver still sleeping soundly. “Please tell me you’re not going to be an early riser like your uncle Shiro.” Charlie reached out, scratching Keith’s nose. “Ow. Your other dad is the one that’s good at cutting baby nails. I freak out.” Charlie waved his hand around and Keith caught it with his finger. Tiny fingers wrapped around his thumb and Keith smiled. “Your big sister used to do that all the time.”

He felt the guilt tug at his chest again and sighed as Charlie marveled at his hand.

He’d lost his temper so easily. With Violet, with Lance. Sure he was tired, but… wasn’t he supposed to be able to handle that? He was a parent now, this was supposed to… be easier. He wasn’t supposed to struggle so much or be so frustrated. It wasn’t like that when Violet had been born, and he’d been younger. Wasn’t he supposed to be better at this? Or was he just a bad father?

Oliver started to cry and Keith hurried to get up and start the routine again. Diaper change, bottle, and burping. Somewhere along the diaper change, Charlie reached out to explore and ended up hitting Oliver, sending the latter into hysterics. The cries scared Charlie, which had him following suit.

“Ugh, not again,” Keith groaned, plopping onto the bed, face down.

There was a knock at his door and the door slid open, letting Shiro into the room. “Sounds like you could use some help in here,” Shiro said over the cries. Keith groaned and nodded, picking Charlie up as Shiro grabbed Oliver. “You doing okay?”

“No?” Keith breathed as he made a bottle with one hand, holding Charlie in his forearm, close to his chest. “I lost my patience with Violet. Then with Lance. These babies keep crying and it’s never just one, it’s always both.” He gave Shiro the first bottle and made a second. “I feel like I’m either sleeping or keeping up with these two, I can’t manage my time.” He started feeding Charlie and held the bottle up with his cheek as he stuffed a baby rag under Oliver’s chin for Shiro and then another under Charlie’s. “I feel like I’m… I don’t know. This was easier with Violet, I don’t know why I’m losing it now.”

“Well, Violet was one baby. And we were all helping with that because it was a first. Now you have two, and frankly you haven’t been letting anyone help. You just stay in here and struggle.”

“I should be able to handle this, I- here, give me that before he takes in too much air.” Shiro gave him the bottle and Keith sat down beside him, bringing Charlie up to burp him. “Maybe I’m just a shitty parent. Wait, Ollie doesn’t like getting burped like that, he spits up each time. Sit him down to burp him.”

Shiro laughed and did as Keith said. “You’re not a bad parent, Keith. You’re just a dad trying to do his best. My parents lost their temper too. There were good days and bad days. Each-”

“Ollie burps twice.”

Shiro resumed burping the baby and smirked. “As I was saying, every child is different, and it’s been seven years since you took care of a baby. You’re getting used to it again.”

Keith sighed and gave Charlie a pacifier. “Logically, you make sense. But then I just see how I can’t stop getting mad or frustrated and… I feel shitty.”

“I think you just need to talk with Lance. And explain things to Violet. You have to be careful not to let her feel forgotten or something. The last thing you need is sibling rivalry.” Keith slumped and nodded. “Now let’s get you out of this room.”

He hauled Keith up and they went to the meeting room where they were soon joined by the Alteans and Hunk. Hunk started playing with the twins, and Pidge came in and plopped down.

“So, what’d you think, Keith?”

“Of what?” he yawned as he handed Hunk a plushie Balmeran to entertain the babies with.

“Have you seen Violet?” she asked with a smirk.

He sighed and let his head fall back. “Oh my God, I know I was tough on her, but-”

Pidge cleared her throat and chuckled nervously. “Oh you don’t know. Well, this’ll be good.”

Before Keith could ask, Lance came into the room and drummed a random beat against the wall. “Alright, everyone! Drumroll please!”

Pidge patted her lap and Allura and Coran excitedly patted against the couch.

“Nice of you to join, Keith,” Lance noted. Keith rolled his eyes. “Alright, give it up for the beautiful, the only, the talented- Violet Esperanza and her new look!”

Violet ran forward as Lance stepped aside and he twirled her around with a wide smile. Keith’s eyebrows went up and his jaw fell open.

Violet’s long brown curls had been cut so her hair only fell to her shoulders.

“Ooh! Your hair looks so nice, little one!” Coran exclaimed, clapping.

“Lance did you cut her hair?”

“No, Pidge did.” Keith looked at Pidge and she gave him an awkward smile. “Keith, what do you think?”

Keith turned his attention back and smiled widely. “It looks great, pumpkin! Um, why did you cut it?”

She shrugged and stepped closer to Lance. “Just wanted to. Now it doesn’t get in my face when I fight.”

Keith nodded and stood up, looking over at Hunk who was making faces at the babies while Pidge held them up. “Babe, can we talk?” Lance snorted and walked out with Keith following after him. They went to their room, and Keith waited for the door to slide shut. “Um. What the fuck?”

Lance sighed and sat on the bed. “What? She can’t cut her hair?”

“Why would you let her without talking to me first? She’s a little girl!”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a haircut, it’ll grow back!”

“The big deal is you didn’t tell me about it!” Keith shouted. “Parenting is a team thing, Lance, and-”

“Is it? Because you’ve been kicking me out of _our_ room to take care of _our_ twins because you get frustrated,” Lance answered, narrowing his eyes. “I’m trying to do this with you, but you keep pushing me away. You can’t do that, then turn around and get mad at me for not consulting you about a _haircut._ ”

“I-!” Keith faltered and sighed, letting himself fall to the bed so heavily, Lance slid against him. “I’m sorry.”

There was a beat of silence. “Excuse me, what?” Keith glared at Lance and huffed. “No, seriously, I don’t think I heard you right.”

“ _Lance.”_

“What! Look, we’ve been married for like almost seven years, and you never apologize that easily.” Lance gave him a gentle smile and Keith leaned against him. “Talk to me, Keith.”

He took a breath and sat upright, rubbing his face tiredly. “I just… feel like I’m failing. We’ve had the twins for a month and four days-”

“You’re counting days?”

“And I feel like I’m fucking everything up. I’m just always tired, but in a different way than when I was pregnant. I want to fight with Voltron, but I want to be a dad, and I want to be a good dad to all of my kids, and I want to be a good husband, and still have time to relax and watch movies without falling asleep after the opening credits!”

“Hey, easy,” Lance said hugging him tightly against his side. “Listen, to me. I get that you feel like you it’s all or nothing, but it’s not. My mom and dad raised five of us. They argued and they made up, they made us cry and they made us laugh. Sometimes there wasn’t enough of something for all of us, sometimes we got lucky and got spoiled.”

“I know I don’t have to be perfect, Lance. But… I didn’t have my parents. I don’t know who to use as a role model. Shiro met me when I was seventeen, so it’s not much help in the parenting department.”

Lance took one of Keith’s hand and with the other, turned Keith to face him. “I know your parents weren’t around. I know that hurts. But look at you and what you’re doing. You’ve raised a little girl for seven years. You’re counting days for the twins’ age. I’ve seen you multitasking with the twins in ways that leaves me shocked. You’re here for them. We both are. We’re in this together, that’s what it is to be a married couple, to be parents.” He smiled and kissed him lightly. “We can do this together. We have our friends to help us too. We can teach Violet to make bottles and feed them. It’s going to be okay.” Keith smiled and kissed him softly. “So… Violet’s hair?”

Keith groaned. “It’s adorable, but she looks older now! She’s growing so fast.” Lance laughed and the sound made the weight Keith had been feeling almost disappear.

Later, once the day had come to an end, Keith asked Lance to stay with the twins while he put Violet to bed. She still seemed upset, and it made Keith feel uneasy. He’d never seen Violet so upset with someone except once when Hunk made cookies without her after promising she could help. And she gave him the cold shoulder for a week.

Violet climbed into her bed and covered herself up, turning onto her side.

Keith sat beside her and tucked her short hair behind her fluffy ear. “You know, now Papi won’t be able to braid your hair before bed.”

She shrugged and looked away. “Yeah, I know.”

Keith sighed and laid down to face her. She gave him a funny look and then narrowed her eyes as she looked down. “Violet, I’m sorry I made you so upset earlier.” Her eyes flickered up to him. “I was just really tired and lost my patience. I know I shouldn’t have. It’s also important that you remember we have two babies in the castle now. Sometimes, you’ll have to be quieter or more careful than before.”

She sniffed and nodded. “I just thought you were gonna stop caring about me because you have new babies. And they’re cuter.”

Keith sighed and threw an arm around her, pulling her close. “No, Violet, of course not. I’m always going to care about you. I will always love you. Just because there’s new babies doesn’t mean you don’t matter. The babies just need a little more attention for a while. You can go to the bathroom by yourself and eat by yourself and move by yourself. The babies can’t do all that.” She hummed and nodded. “But, your papi says you can help us too. Do you wanna learn how to feed your brothers tomorrow?”

She scrunched her nose. “No, because then they poop.”

Keith laughed and ruffled her hair. “True. But when they get older, you’ll be able to play with them more, and run around and all that fun stuff Papi’s always telling you about his siblings.” She nodded and hugged him tightly. “And I really do like your hair. It’s very cute.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” she giggled. “And I’ll always love you too.”

\--

A few months later, Keith was able to begin working out again. Then he was able to take his place in Voltron again.

As the years went by, the twins learned to walk, they learned to talk- Charlie’s first word was “ _fack”_ thanks to Pidge and Lance’s video game nights, Oliver’s first word was “ _Vi-et”_ which made Violet more excited than excursions to the Space Mall. They loved waddling around to each of their aunts and uncles, they loved running after their sister and trying to imitate her when she trained. They liked to get into “playful” fights that always ended with Keith and Lance pulling them apart from each other.

There were times when Keith would sit back and watch as Violet played with her brothers, or he’d watch the twins clamber onto Lance in fits of giggles and slobber, or he’d watch Violet completely annihilate Lance at a video game and he’d think to himself about how funny life was. He’d grown up almost all alone. And now he was surrounded by family and filled with love.

He only hoped the war would end soon so they could go home and try to lead a somewhat normal life….

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [We've Got You, Baby.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14216934) by [have-a-little-laith (LWritesx)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LWritesx/pseuds/have-a-little-laith)




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